With his master's degree in international relations from Northeastern, mild-mannered John Nolan is—just perhaps—overqualified for his job as manager of the Philadelphia Irish Center. But could there be anyone better?
With his master’s degree in international relations from Northeastern, mild-mannered John Nolan is—just perhaps—overqualified for his job as manager of the Philadelphia Irish Center. But could there be anyone better?
The members of the Tyrone Society of Philadelphia don’t think so. Not that they’re alone. John has lots of fans. (Including us.) But the Tyrones, at their recent ball to celebrate the organization’s 99th anniversary, conferred upon John the 2008 Red Hand Distinguished Service Award. (The Red Hand is an ancient Ulster heraldic symbol.)
The society’s Geraldine Trainor brought John and his wife Mary to the Irish Center stage and praised him for his “quiet, gentle unassuming way.” She noted also his family ties to Ireland. John is the youngest of five children born to Dan (the son of immigrants from Wicklow and Kildare) and Bridie (from Clare) Nolan of Bethlehem. John and Mary would go on to raise six of their own.
John attended Bethlehem Catholic, went on to attend LaSalle College as a political major and attended Northeastern for his master’s. He met Mary while he was working for the federal government in Washington.
After they moved to Mount Airy, Mary joined the Mayo Association (her father is from the county) and John occasionally tended bar. In 1993, he accepted the position as acting manager of the center.
It was never just an act, of course. He’s the real deal, and it didn’t take long for the Irish Center folks to realize it.
Fifteen years later, John says he still finds it hard to believe his good fortune.
Nattily attired in a tux with a bright red bow tie, John unfolded a well-worn piece of paper with his remarks written on it and recalled thinking of the Irish Center gig as temporary. “I figured I could handle it for a while,” he told his audience. “I didn’t realize that, in accepting this job, Mary and I would be getting quite an education.”
He noted that his father’s people lost touch with Ireland, so there were gaps in his knowledge.
Hanging out on a quiet evening and chatting with some of the regulars did a lot to fill in the gaps. “Some of the best nights here were the nights when there weren’t a lot of people around,” he says.
Being on hand for many of the lectures and concerts and meeting the many celebrities who rolled through from time to time also did much to advance his Irish education. “I learned firsthand about the (1981 H-Block) hunger strike from Brendan Hurson (brother of hunger striker Martin Hurson, the sixth Republican to die in the strike),” he said. “It wasn’t just something you read about. I learned about these things, not from television, not from a book, but from the people who lived through it. I met (Irish republican politicians) Pat Doherty, Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams. And it wouldn’t have happened without the Irish Center.”
Like any good employee, he praised his boss Vince Gallagher and made note of all the improvements, overseen by Vince, that have transformed the Irish Center over the past several years. The Irish Center is quite the showplace now, he said, but even when it wasn’t, there was always something quite special about it. “It’s the one place in Philadelphia where everyone from Ireland feels welcome,” he said.
And one of the reasons for that, although he’s too humble to say it, is John himself.
Along with celebrating John, the Tyrones spent the evening celebrating something else pretty special: just being from Tyrone.