Edward J. Hogan

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Edward J. Hogan
Born	December 19, 1897 Youngstown, Ohio
Died	March 24, 1976 Long Beach, California

Edward J. Hogan (December 10, 1897 - March 24, 1976) was a track and field standout at the University of Notre Dame in the early 1920s. His photograph is featured on Notre Dame's sports "Wall of Honor."

Earlier in his career, as a student athlete at Youngstown, Ohio's Rayen School, Hogan established longstanding state records in track and field.^[1] Four decades after his high school graduation, his image was included in Ohio artist John Benninger's mural of Rayen School history.^[2]

[edit] Formative years

Edward Hogan (right), with uncle Marty Hogan (center) and brother Raymond (left).

He was born on the North Side of Youngstown, the third surviving son of Patrick J. Hogan, a "roller" at the Union Iron & Steel Company, and Mary (Cullinan) Hogan, an immigrant from Ballyallinan, County Limerick, Ireland. Athletic competition was encouraged in the Hogan household. Edward Hogan's father, Patrick Hogan, had been a semi-professional boxer, and his uncle, Martin F. Hogan, was a former major leaguer pitcher who managed the Youngstown Ohio Works.^[3]

Hogan enrolled at The Rayen School in 1915. His earliest visibility was as a halfback for the Rayen football team, where he played a decisive role in the school's victory over rival South High School.^[4] For all his success on the gridiron, however, Hogan's greatest feats were in track and field. The Rayen Record reported, in June 1917, that Hogan was part of the school's first "triumvirate" in track and field.^[5] During a field meet at Mt. Union College, on May 18, 1917, he helped Rayen secure third place in the state. He also threw the javelin 153 feet and eight inches,^[6] to establish a state record that stood for decades.^[7]

[edit] Notre Dame sports career

Hogan's portrait on Notre Dame's Wall of Honor (center).

Following a stint in the U.S. Naval Reserve during World War I,^[8] Hogan enrolled at the University of Notre Dame, where he reportedly intended to play football under coach Knute Rockne. Hogan's athletic career took an unexpected turn, however, when Rockne observed as Hogan demonstrated a pole-vaulting technique to a member of the school's track and field team. An impressed Rockne, who also coached track, informed Hogan that he was no longer a member of the football team.^[9] He proved to be a strong and consistent performer on Notre Dame's outdoor varsity track team from 1921 to 1923, where he excelled at the pole vault and broad jump.

In 1922, Hogan reportedly missed an opportunity to participate in the Olympics because of an injury sustained during practice.^[10] When Notre Dame faced Wabash College in Indianapolis, on May 9, 1922, Hogan placed first in both the running broad jump (19 feet and 11 3/4 inches) and pole vault (11 feet and two inches). On March 10, 1922, during a meet with the University of Wisconsin, in Madison, he took first in the pole vault, clearing a height of 12 feet and three inches.^[11]Named as a "monogram man" in his final season, Hogan won first place in the pole vault in a May 19, 1923, meet with Michigan Agricultural College, and tied for fifth in the broad jump at the Western Intercollegiate Meet, on June 2-3.^[12] The 1923 Notre Dame yearbook, The Dome, noted: "Eddie Hogan, who consistently cleared the bar in the pole vault at twelve feet, accounted for many points during the season".^[13] Hogan was joined on the track team by his roommate Elmer Layden^[14], another versatile athlete who placed first in the 100-yard dash during the May meet with Michigan "Aggie".^[15]

Interestingly, Hogan's portrait on the University of Notre Dame's Wall of Honor is a graduation photo rather than an official sports portrait. Therefore, he is the only honored athlete to be shown wearing a mortarboard. Hogan was reportedly ill on the morning that the official portrait was scheduled to be taken.^[16]

[edit] Later years

On Nov. 1, 1923, Hogan married the former Elizabeth Agnes Gottschalk, of Salem, Ohio, in a ceremony in South Bend, Indiana. His best man was former teammate Layden.^[17] After graduation from Notre Dame's law program, Hogan settled in Canton, Ohio, where he served as athletic director of the Knights of Columbus facility ^[18] and helped organize the Canton Catholic Youth Center.^[19] In 1927, he relocated to Los Angeles, California, where he practiced law as a patent attorney. After the death of his first wife, in 1950, Hogan moved from South Gate, California, to San Gabriel, California.

On Nov. 10, 1951, he married the former Ilo Artance Henriette Wilson. The couple had three children. In 1976, after a bout with lung cancer, Edward James Hogan passed away at Veteran's Hospital, in Long Beach, California.^[20] Services were held in San Gabriel, and he was buried in Monterey Park, California. His death was noted in his hometown, where many residents still recalled him as the youthful athlete who had thrown a decisive pass in the Rayen-South game 60 years earlier.^[21]

[edit] References

1. ^ The Youngstown Vindicator, Youngstown, Ohio, March 25, 1976
2. ^ The Youngstown Vindicator, June 14, 1959.
3. ^ The Hogan-Cullinan Family Collection, Mahoning Valley Historical Society, Youngstown, Ohio.
4. ^ The Rayen Record,The Rayen School, Youngstown, Ohio, December 1916, p. 169.
5. ^ The Rayen Record,The Rayen School, Youngstown, Ohio, June 1917, p. 595.
6. ^ The Rayen Record,The Rayen School, Youngstown, Ohio, June 1917, p. 597.
7. ^ The Youngstown Vindicator, Youngstown, Ohio, March 25, 1976.
8. ^ The Youngstown Vindicator, Youngstown, Ohio, March 25, 1976
9. ^ The Hogan-Cullinan Family Collection, Mahoning Valley Historical Society, Youngstown, Ohio
10. ^ The Hogan-Cullinan Family Collection, Mahoning Valley Historical Society, Youngstown, Ohio
11. ^ The Dome, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana, 1923.
12. ^ The Dome, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana, 1924.
13. ^ The Dome, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana, 1924.
14. ^ The Youngstown Vindicator, Youngstown, Ohio, March 25, 1976.
15. ^ The Dome, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana, 1924.
16. ^ The Hogan-Cullinan Family Collection, Mahoning Valley Historical Society, Youngstown, Ohio
17. ^ The Youngstown Vindicator, Youngstown, Ohio, March 25, 1976.
18. ^ Heald, E.T., The Stark County Story: The Suburban Era. (Canton, Ohio: The Stark County Historical Society, 1958), p. 476.
19. ^ The Youngstown Vindicator, Youngstown, Ohio, March 25, 1976
20. ^ The Youngstown Vindicator, Youngstown, Ohio, March 25, 1976.
21. ^ The Youngstown Vindicator, Youngstown, Ohio, March 25, 1976.