John Joe Barry - 'The Ballincurry Hare' - was one of Ireland's most naturally gifted middle-distance runners of the 1940s, the holder of an Irish mile record and among the first Irish athletes to be awarded an athletics scholarship to Villanova University following the 1948 London Olympic Games. He moved from Joliet, Illinois to The Commons, County Tipperary at the age of three. During the war years his talent for running was recognised through the Local Defence Forces and he joined Ballincurry AC, winning a remarkable sweep of county, provincial and national junior and senior cross country titles in 1945. The Tipperary Star named him 'The Ballincurry Hare.' He joined Clonliffe Harriers in Dublin under the patronage of Billy Morton, won the AAUE national 880y, one-mile and three-mile titles in 1947, and set a new Irish mile record of 4:15.2 on 9 August 1947. He competed in the 5000m and 1500m in London, having travelled from Glasgow - where he was working as a clothes salesman - to defend his national titles at College Park before joining the team. He was part of the AAUE contingent admitted through IOC intervention.
Athletics
