Legend
Reprinted from Park/Ratheniska GAA Grounds Open Day programme (2005)
Some people become legends long after they have departed this life while a few manage to attain that status while still living. Will McEvoy is one such figure.
When Park Ratheniska won the Junior Hurling ‘C’ championship in 2003 it was fitting that a man who had been deeply involved when the club won the Senior Football championship 50 years earlier should still be actively participating.
1952 was a glorious year for the Park club as they won the Laois senior football championship for the first time and then went on to retain it a year later.
It was a remarkable achievement for a small rural team made up of a few families from a sparsely populated area and it was even more noteworthy in that the team was trained by one of their own, the great Will ‘Bruno’ McEvoy.
While Will is known for his lifetime involvement in athletics not many outside his native area know that he was both the team trainer and masseur in 52/53. He has continued to the present day to ‘rub’ players and be a source of great encouragement with his intense knowledge, experience and enthusiasm.
Will McEvoy has been one of the great servants to the Park Ratheniska club and he obtained as much pleasure in watching the hurlers take last years ‘C’ title as he did with the back to back senior football titles of 50 years ago.
‘Bruno’ as he is affectionately known has been one of the clubs most loyal and dedicated supporters throughout his life. While concentrating on athletics after the minor grade he played little football but brought the methods that he employed at distance running to achieve success on the football fields.
As a team physical trainer he was decades ahead of his time in the methods used to bring a team to peak fitness for the concluding stages of a championship.
His methods certainly paid off in 1952 when he brought Park to the county final and then ‘peaked them’ against Ballyroan to take their first title.
Will then, like trainers of today, believed that players had to train in the winter and then do their stamina work early in the year. “A player has to be fit enough to run for an hour and a half in training to be able to finish a game as fresh as he started, it is clearly the final minutes that win most games”
He also believes that players should ease off in the week before a big game to be fresh “in 1952 against Ballyroan some lads thought that we should be training harder the week before the final but I told them that if they followed my training methods they would win and they did”
Will also believes in players getting a good massage not only before a match but after it as well. He did it with the teams way back 50 years ago and it certainly proved to be of huge benefit “I used to sweat more than the players but it was worth it. I rubbed them before and after training and it helped prevent injuries. There weren’t half as many injuries then as there is now”
Will’s involvement with last year’s junior team gave him immense satisfaction. While his ‘magic hands’ may not be as fast as 50 years ago his advice and experience were invaluable to the team.
He has a simple philosophy on football “think faster than your opponent, do what has to be done to get one over on him and above all be fit and listen to advice. Keep learning”
Will McEvoy is an example to anyone on how to live a long and healthy life by taking regular exercise. He continues to keep up to date with the latest training methods and sports injuries and still runs 4 to 5 miles every second day and as they say is “as fit as a fiddle”
For 8 decades he has been a familiar sight on the roads of the county with his endurance training bringing him success in Laois, Provincial and All Ireland championships. With his great friend Timahoe’s Noel Ramsbottom they travelled to all corners of the country and came home with trophies and medals.
His dedication to and support of his native club is a source of pride to all of the present club members. The players of 50 years ago speak in glowing terms of his contribution then and the players of today are just delighted to have him around.
Will McEvoy is a living legend. Long may he continue!
- Jack Nolan
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Will McEvoy - Where there's a Will, there's a way
(Reproduced from the June 18th 2009 edition of the Leinster Express, with the kind permission of Rory Delaney and the Leinster Express)
Rory Delaney
Throughout our lives, we are always reminded of the importance of acting our age. There are certain things expected of us as we get older, and acting outside of these social norms often results in people questioning the wisdom of your actions.
This is particularly true the older people get, as the aged among us are expected to slow up as life progresses, and not continue to live your life as you always have done. Not everyone buys into that philosophy though. Take Will McEvoy from Ratheniska, for example. If you look at the pictures of Will, it's hard to know which of the following pieces of information is the most surprising - 1. He recently ran six miles as part of the 2009 Clare Burren Marathon challenge or 2. He is 93 years old.
In the realms of what is expected of someone by their age, it's hard to know what is expected of a 93 year old because so few people live that long. In spite of that, however, distance running probably isn't one of them. Will has been running all his life though, and so he continues to run now.
If ever someone could be held up as an example of the benefits of healthy living, then Will is surely it. A lifetime in athletics has allowed him to continue enjoying one of his greatest loves throughout his life, and he still runs and walks regularly, covering three or four miles a day.
Within the community of Ratheniska, he has taken on the status of a 'living legend', such is his reputation and the esteem in which he's held in the area. He has been at the heartbeat of Park and latterly Park Ratheniska GAA club for most of his life, with his most famous contribution being his spell as trainer of Park during their golden spell in the 1950s.
Born on June 6, 1916 Will won his first race in 1926 while a pupil at Aughnahila National School in the shadow of The Rock of Dunamaise, a short distance from where he still lives. He played football in his youth with Park, lining out with them up to minor before concentrating on his athletic commitments after that. He wasn't lost to athletics, however, as he brought the training methods he learned in his favoured sport back to Park.
Athletics was always his first love though, and he travelled the length and breadth of the country competing. He would cycle to races no matter where they were on, and was known to cycle as far as Cork in search of competition, stopping off in a bed and breakfast on the way to break the trip. He worked as a farm hand, and would then try to pick up a few days work on the way home.
His occupation meant he was outside and exercising all the time, and it is this lifetime of physcial activity that has allowed him to achieve such longevity in his racing career. He still has the ability to surprise himself too. Heading down to run the six miles in Clare, he confessed to his running partner Gerry Delaney that he hoped to make it home in two and half hours. He missed that target by a good bit. He did it in 2 hours 3 minutes.
He has set records throughout his lifetime, and many of them still stand. In 1991, he ran an eight mile race from Timahoe NS to St Francis NS, and completed it in 1hr, 10mins and 45 secs. Two years later in 1993, he ran 3,000m in 16 minutes, setting another record, with two more records coming in 1998, in the 400m and 1,500m. He also holds the over 80s record for the shotput, at 4.81 metres.
Considering his achievements in athletics, it's surprising to hear he had time to devote himself to another sport, but luckily for the Park footballers of the 1950s, he found the time. He acted as trainer to the Park teams of the 1950s, and coming from an athletic background his training methods were way ahead of their time in football circles.
He got the team training early in the year and had the stamina work done over the winter and had the team peaking in the championship. Will was also an accomplished masseur, and realising the importance of avoiding injury, ensured each player was given a rub before and after training to help avoid injuries.
In 1952, in the week leading up to the final the Park players were dreading the prospect of training ahead of the game, fearing the usual tough sessions before a big game. Will put their fears at ease, and knowing it would do them no good to be tired coming into the game, eased off on training to ensure the players came into the game fresh. It worked, and Park won.
He remains a loyal supporter of Park Ratheniska, and was there on their most famous day when they lifted the Leinster JFC title on their home pitch. It was another highlight in a life which started not long after the Easter Rising of 1916, and took in two World Wars, 184 All-Ireland Finals, 24 Olympic Games, 18 World Cups, and more than one recession too.
Throughout it all, however, Will has kept running, proving that age doesn't have to slow you down. He enjoys his running, so he continues to run. He knows the distances from his house to all the major landmarks and houses in the area, and can tailor his running accordingly. On one such occasion, when he was younger, he decided to see how long he could run for. With a bottle of tea and some biscuits for sustenance, he set off. Seven hours and 11 minutes later, he finished.
It's another remarkable landmark in a remarkable life for the man known as 'Bruno'. He has inspired the community of Ratheniska and many more beyond for over nine decades, and continues to do so every day. He's routinely described as a legend, and there's hardly a more fitting description than that.
- Rory Delaney, Leinster Express
