Jimmy Cranny was born in Dublin in 1905. He was orphaned early in life, came to Galway when he was eight and it became his home from then on. He grew up to be a champion swimmer, a winner of the Prom Swim and a springboard diving champion of Connacht. He was a member of the Royal Lifesaving Society and became one of their first lifeguards. He later joined the Irish Red Cross.
In 1937, he dived off the springboard in Blackrock into seven feet of water. It must have been a fine dive because he went straight to the bottom and fractured his neck. He was unconscious when he was rescued by Tom Lynskey from Bridge Street and Eddie Lee from Mainguard Street. They managed to bring him up to Seamount Hospital and from there he was transferred to the Regional, where, happily, he made a recovery. But that was the end of his diving days.
Jimmy was a life-long Pioneer, never took an alcoholic drink in his life. In the thirties, he was a member of the Penny Dinners Theatre Group, a team of local volunteers who put on plays and revues in the Columban Hall which were very successful fundraisers for the charity. An active member of the ITGWU for many years, initially he worked in St Ignatius’ College and later was employed as a technician in the Anatomy Department in UCG. He lived in an apartment over Caulfield’s shop in Lower Dominick Street and later with Peggy and Tommy Rabbitte in Newcastle.
In 1931, he was one of the founders of Galway Swimming Club and it was, of course, for the teaching of swimming that Jimmy will always be remembered. For most of his life, on a voluntary basis, he spent every evening from May until October, on the shores of Galway Bay, either at Blackrock or at the Pools, teaching young Galwegians to swim. In 1955, it was calculated that he had taught at least 4,000 children swimming. He started the boys off lying in shallow water over the stones at the shore at Blackrock — there was no beach there then — and in the case of the girls, at Ladies Beach. The first exercise was to be able to lie flat and kick your legs. Next he would crouch and show you how to do the dog’s paddle and then you graduated into the water doing both at the same time. Without realising it you were swimming, maybe only a few strokes, but swimming.
There was no such thing as a swimming pool in Galway in those days, conditions were primitive, but using a carrot and stick approach, great encouragement mixed with an odd roar, he got you swimming. “Flah Hout” or “Keep your chin on the waher” were the roars heard by thousands of young would-be swimmers. Any child who thought to enjoy themselves playing ring-a-ring-a-rosy in the waves could be told to “Geh hup, geh how, geh hin” (get in the water and swim ) and suddenly find themselves learning to swim. He was probably the best educator in town for many years, much better known than any politician.
He officiated at swimming galas; helped inaugurate the inter schools gala in 1954; was elected as Sports Star of the Year in 1959 and 1965; He and Fr Ó Brolcháin SJ were the first two to be awarded the Certificate of Merit by the Irish Red Cross, the highest honour they could bestow; He was elected President of the Irish Amateur Swimming Association in 1960. When he got swimmers to a decent competitive level, he trained them on the canal, starting from Johnny Ward’s bridge and swimming up to the pillars. You togged out there unless it was raining, in which case you were allowed change in the IMI. The great thing about there was when you came in from the water, all you had to do was stand in front of the furnace and you were dry and warm in an instant. This was at about eight o’clock in the morning and as always with Jimmy, it was voluntary on his part. He also coached countless swimmers in water safety techniques. On many Friday evenings during the winter, when the indoor pool was built in Tuam, he would drive Jim Langan, Joe Hynes, Billy Dunne and Conor Kenny, champion swimmers all, to Tuam in his Mini to teach local kids swimming.
He was constantly at loggerheads with the authorities, campaigning to get them to build an indoor pool in Galway, so when they finally did open the pool at Leisureland, there was only one name they could put on it — The Cranny Pool, a fitting monument to his selfless work.
Our photographs this week are of Jimmy, and Jimmy where he was always happiest, among a group of young Galway Swimming Club swimmers, taken at the pools in 1959. They are, front row: Richard Coughlan, Neil Howard, Anne Whelan, Hilary Martin, Michelle Lohan, Jane Kenny Raphael Darcy, Olive Kyne. Second row: Eamonn Carroll, Des Rogan, Ken Keane, Donal Hickey, Henry Reid, Seamus Brennan, Claude Toft, Jimmy Cranny, Brian Colgan, Maura Darcy, Noel Rogan, Gabrielle Kyne, Joe Lally, Maura Kyne, Anne Kelly. Back row: Seán Brazil, Alan Howard, David Burgoyne, Bobby Coughlan, Niall McConn, Peadar O’Beirne, Hugh Watson, Seán Hogan, Billy Herterich, Jim Cradock, Kerry McConn, Tom Kenny, Finbarr Lillis, Eamonn Doorley, Brendan Watson and John Cradock.
Jimmy died forty years ago yesterday but he lives on in the public memory. For thousands of Galwegians, he will never be forgotten.
