South Boston Olympian James B. Connolly, Born October 28, 1868

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James Brendan Connolly, Olympic champion, writer and adventurer, was born in South Boston on October 28, 1868, one of twelve children of Irish immigrants John Connolly and Anne O’Donnell, from Inis Mor on the Aran Islands off the coast of Galway.  

According to family records, the parents immigrated to the US in 1860, with their two children, John and Martin, settling first in the seaside village of Rockport, north of Boston, before moving to South Boston in 1862 and raising their family at 50 G Street. 

Fishing was the family trade, and as and a boy, Connolly learned to sail, fish, survive storms, repair rigs, and to understand and appreciate the ways of fishermen everywhere. Later in his life, Connolly became a noted writer on the sea, publishing 25+ novels and short story collections. 

Growing up in South Boston, sports were a central part of Connolly's life.  In his writings, he fondly recalled the days of his youth running across open fields, jumping off the pier into the harbor, and attending monster picnics where renowned Irish and Scottish athletes competed against each other in any number of sports. 

He remembers seeing the great boxing heavyweight champ John L. Sullivan walking down the street in his neighborhood, or Mike “The King” Kelly of the Boston Braves and other icons of the community.

That upbringing in sports was brought to bear in 1896, when Connolly became the first athlete to win a medal in the Modern Olympic Games, held in Athens, Greece, winning the trip jump on opening day.  

On October 31, 1987, Boston Mayor Ray Flynn, Parks official Bill Linehan and local track and field clubs came together to unveil a statue of Connolly at Columbus Park (now called Joe Moakley Park) in South Boston.  The statue by sculptor Robert Haxo shows Connolly completing the final part of the triple jump. 

The Connolly statue is part of Boston's Irish Heritage Trail, a collection of 20 downtown sites and 20 neighborhood sites in the City of Boston.


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