James Edward Heron (28November 191023April 1985) was an Irish

high diving High diving is the act of diving into water from relatively great heights. High diving can be performed as an adventure sport (as with cliff diving), as a performance stunt (as with many records attempts), or competitively during sporting events ...

and

springboard diving A springboard or diving board is used for diving and is a board that is itself a spring, i.e. a linear flex-spring, of the cantilever type. Springboards are commonly fixed by a hinge at one end (so they can be flipped up when not in use), and ...

champion. He won the British Diving Championship in 1932 and represented Ireland at the 1948 Olympic Games.

Early life

Eddie Heron was born in the north inner city of Dublin, Ireland. His father, Michael, worked as a butcher and was from

Carlow Carlow ( ; ) is the county town of County Carlow, in the south-east of Ireland, from Dublin. At the 2016 census, it had a combined urban and rural population of 24,272. The River Barrow flows through the town and forms the historic bounda ...

. His mother, Mary Heron (née Kennedy) was from Dublin. Heron senior was an able gymnast and diver and introduced his son to both disciplines at an early age.Jim Shanahan, "Heron, James Edward ('Eddie')", ''Dictionary of Irish Biography'', (ed.) James McGuire, James Quinn. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2009. Indeed, young Heron learnt to dive before he could swim. At the age of eleven his father had to help him from the pool following a swallow dive which the boy performed at the Kingstown (now

Dún Laoghaire Dún Laoghaire ( , ) is a suburban coastal town in Dublin in Ireland. It is the administrative centre of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown. The town was built following the 1816 legislation that allowed the building of a major port to serve Dubli ...

) Regatta.

National victories

Heron's first major successes took place in 1924 when he was thirteen. In July he won the Leinster Championship. A month later he competed in the Tailteann Games, coming third in the Men's Plain Diving competition. The winner was Olympic champion,

Dick Eve Richmond Cavill "Dick" Eve (19 March 1901 – 13 March 1970) was an Australian diver who competed in the 1924 Summer Olympics. He won the gold medal in the plain high diving and finished fifth in the 3 metre springboard event. He was the firs ...

. At the same games Heron won the boys' diving competition.Fergus Barron, ''Swimming for a century'', Irish Amateur Swimming Association 1993, pp 55-68 Between then and 1950, he dominated Irish diving, winning thirty-four national titles in both high diving and springboard events.

International achievements

In 1932 Heron achieved international success by beating Doug Tomalin to win the British Diving Championship at

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

. In preparation for the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad (German: ''Spiele der XI. Olympiade'') and commonly known as Berlin 1936 or the Nazi Olympics, were an international multi-sp ...

, Heron spent the first six months of the year in Miami, Florida, where he trained with

Pete Desjardins Ulise Joseph "Pete" Desjardins (April 12, 1907 – May 6, 1985) was an American diver who competed in the 1924 and 1928 Summer Olympics. Born in St-Pierre-Jolys, Manitoba, Canada, Desjardins grew up in Florida. In 1924 he won the silver me ...

, the 1928 Olympic champion. However, due to a dispute as to which sporting body should represent Irish athletes, Ireland did not participate in the 1936 Olympics. The next games took place in London in 1948 but another dispute over jurisdiction led to Heron and his team mates withdrawing from all swimming and diving events. Heron did, however, compete in the opening heats of the diving competitions before the withdrawal.

Later years

Although Heron retired from competitive diving in 1950, he was persuaded to take part in the 1968 Irish three-metre springboard championship held at Blackrock Baths in Dublin. At the age of fifty-seven, he took the title by defeating the reigning champion, George Matulevicze. He continued to take part in diving exhibitions and competitions well into his sixties. At the annual Texaco Sports Star Awards held in January 1977, Heron received the Hall of Fame award from

Taoiseach The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...

Liam Cosgrave Liam Cosgrave (13 April 1920 – 4 October 2017) was an Irish Fine Gael politician who served as Taoiseach from 1973 to 1977, Leader of Fine Gael from 1965 to 1977, Leader of the Opposition from 1965 to 1973, Minister for External Affairs from ...

Personal life

Heron was married to Helen (‘Nellie’) McGuirk; they had no children. Following a long illness, he died in St. Vincent's Hospital, Dublin, at the age of seventy-four.

Posthumous honours

In July each year, swimmers compete for the Eddie Heron Cup in a race from

to Blackrock. This is organised by Heron's former club, Sandycove Swimming Club.Swim Ireland, "Open Sea - Calendar 2014"
, retrieved 5 Mar. 2015. A plaque in honour of Eddie Heron has been erected near the now-demolished Blackrock Baths where he competed for many years.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heron, Eddie 1910 births 1985 deaths Divers at the 1948 Summer Olympics Irish male divers Male high divers Olympic divers of Ireland Sportspeople from Dublin (city)