Jack Kirrane
| Jack Kirrane | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Born |
August 20, 1928 Brookline, Massachusetts, U.S. |
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| Died | September 26, 2016 (aged 88) Brookline, Massachusetts, U.S. |
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| Height | 5 ft 10 in (178 cm) | ||
| Weight | 170 lb (77 kg; 12 st 2 lb) | ||
| Position | Defense | ||
| Played for |
Boston Olympics Worcester Warriors |
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| National team |
 United States
|
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| Playing career | 1947–1960 | ||
| Olympic medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Men's Ice hockey | ||
| Representing United States
|
||
 |
1960 Squaw Valley | Ice hockey |
John Joseph "Jack" Kirrane Jr. (/kᵻˈreɪn/; August 20, 1928 – September 26, 2016) was an American former ice hockey player. Kirrane was a member of the United States 1948 Winter Olympics and 1960 Winter Olympics teams, winning the gold medal in 1960. He was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 1987. Kirrane went on to serve 38 years with the Brookline, Massachusetts Fire Department and also spent 15 years as the rink manager of the Bright Hockey Center at Harvard University.
Kirrane began playing hockey as a child on a neighbor's pond with his brothers. In high school, he participated in baseball, track and field, football and ice hockey. In 1948 Kirrane became the youngest member of the United States Olympic ice hockey team. When the team headed to St. Moritz, Switzerland to take part in the Olympic Games, there was a conflict over what truly constituted an amateur athlete and two United States teams were sent. It was a situation that nearly caused the cancellation of the entire ice hockey tournament. Eventually a compromise was made. Kirrane's team was allowed to play, but were disqualified from medal contention. In the end the disqualification was unnecessary as the United States finished the tournament in fourth place. Following the Olympics Kirrane continued to play amateur hockey for the Boston Olympics in the Eastern Amateur Hockey League (EAHL), a farm team of the National Hockey League's Boston Bruins. He lost out on a chance at an NHL career when he was drafted into the United States Army to serve in the Korean War. When he returned home from the Army, he became a firefighter in his home town of Brookline, Massachusetts. He played one more season in the EAHL this time with the Worcester Warriors. In 1957, two years after his last season in the EAHL, Kirrane again played for the US national team and led his senior team to the Amateur Hockey Association of the United States National Senior Championship.
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