Celtic Park, home of the Irish-American Athletic Club, in the early 20th Century
By Mary Hendriksen
March 5th, 2025
In 1901, the Irish-American Athletic Club (I-ACC) opened a stadium and facility called Celtic Park, in the New York City borough of Queens. Celtic Park was the training home of scores of world-class athletes—with an extraordinary number of them becoming Olympic medalists.
As historian and Queens resident Ian McGowan has noted: The I-ACC practiced an entirely different philosophy than the New York City Athletic Club.
The leaders of the I-AAC had a democratic approach to membership, and they were strikingly open to members of all ethnicities and religions. This stood in stark contrast to that of its great rival, the New York Athletic Club. It was “a poor man’s club with very few college men. The Irish-American Athletic Club was made up of guys out of grammar school or from high school or kids who worked. If you could run or jump, you could try out,” said Abel Kiviat, a Jewish Olympic champion of the I-AAC. “Whereas the wealthy and elitist NYAC discriminated against Jews and other white ethnic, working-class athletes, the Irish Club welcomed them.” In addition to including the first Irish-born Olympic gold medalist (John J. Flanagan – 1900), I-AAC members included the first Jewish track & field Olympic gold medalist (Myer Prinstein – 1904), and the first African American Olympic gold medalist (John B. Taylor – 1908).
Members of the I-AAC competed in the Olympic games from 1900 to 1924, winning fifty-six Olympic medals for the U.S. Olympic Team.
Moreover, in his histories of the Club, McGowan details how, in addition to being an athletic facility, Celtic Park was a meeting place for immigrants as well as for the Irish Diaspora to raise funds for the Easter Rising.
The club’s symbol was a winged fist—surrounded by American flags and shamrocks.
The I-ACC suspended activities during World War I as the athletes entered the War effort. It never reconstituted. Land was sold in the 1930s and garden-style apartment buildings were built where it once stood.
Today, a street sign commemorates the Club and its achievements. “Winged Fist Way” is the co-name of 43rd Street.
Also, 43rd and Skillman is the starting point of the St. Pat’s For All Parade, which stepped off for its 26th year on March 2.
In 2024, AAIDN founder and president Dennis Brownlee shared the honor of “Grand Marshall” of the St. Pat’s for All Parade with actress Geraldine Hughes.
Sources for the above:
McGowan, Ian, "A Brief History of the Irish-American Athletic Club: The "Winged Fists" of Celtic Park" (2014). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cc_etds_theses/265
McGowan, Ian Sunnyside History: Celtic Park - A Training Ground for Olympic Champions, New York Daily News, May 8, 2012.
McGowan, Ian. A Brief History of Celtic Park.