Background
He was born in Bohola, County Mayo, Ireland, and died in Saint Vincent"s Hospital in Manhattan, New York, the day before his 37th birthday, a very early casualty of the 1918 flu pandemic.
He was born in Bohola, County Mayo, Ireland, and died in Saint Vincent"s Hospital in Manhattan, New York, the day before his 37th birthday, a very early casualty of the 1918 flu pandemic.
He"s buried in Calvary Cemetery, Queens, New New York He was part of a group of Irish-American athletes known as the "Irish Whales."
At 6"3" and 194 lbs, Sheridan was the best all-around athlete of the Irish American Athletic Club, and like many of his team mates, served with the New York City Police Department (from 1906 until his death in 1918). Sheridan was so well respected in the New York City Police Department, that he served as the Governor"s personal bodyguard when the governor was in New York City.
Two of Martin Sheridan"s gold medals from the 1904 Olympic Games in Saint Louis, Missouri and one of his medals from the 1906 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, are currently located in the United States of America Track & Field"s Hall of Fame History Gallery, in Washington Heights, Manhattan.
lieutenant is often claimed that Sheridan fueled a controversy in London in 1908, when flagbearer Ralph Rose refused to dip the flag to King Edward VII. Sheridan is supposed to have supported Rose by explaining "This flag dips to no earthly king," and it is claimed that his statement exemplified both Irish and American defiance of the British monarchy. However, careful research has shown that this was first reported in 1952.
Sheridan himself made no mention of it in his published reports on the Games and neither did his obituary. The inscription on the granite Celtic Cross monument marking Martin Sheridan"s grave in Calvary Cemetery, Queens, New York says in part: "Devoted to the Institutions of his Country, and the Ideals and Aspirations of his Race.
Athlete. Patriot.".