Irish Boston History & Heritage

  Image Courtesy of Mass Moments Thursday, February 4, 1993 was Larry Bird Night at the old Boston Garden, when the Boston Celtics officially retired Larry Bird '33 jersey and hoisted it to the rafters. It was an event for the ages, with Larry's former teammates and coaches returning en masse to honor one of the most consequential basketball players in NBA history, and certainly one of the Celtics' most legendary players.  During his 13 year career with the Boston Celtics Bird led the team to NBA championships in 1981, 1984, and 1986. He is also the only person in NBA history to win MVP, Coach of the Year, and Executive of the Year.  At the Larry Bird Night, Magic Johnson was there, and so were teammates Cedric Maxwell, Rick Robey and M.L.Carr, along with Kevin McHale and Robert Parish. Bird's wife Dinah and son Connor were on the parquet, along with Bird's mother Georgia, his sister Linda and brothers, Mike, Mark, Jeff and Eddie.  The Garden itself was packed to...

  Louise Bogan photo, courtesy of Library of Congress Acclaimed American poet Louise Bogan (1897-1970) was born in Livermore Falls, Maine on August 11, 1897, the daughter of Irish Catholic parents whose own parents had emigrated from Donegal and Derry in the 19th century.  A story in the Livermore Advertiser in September 2023 reveals more about her ancestry. “Bogan was the granddaughter of a sea captain who emigrated from Ireland to Portland, Maine, before the potato famine of the 1840s. The couple had 12 children and built a home on Captain’s Hill in Portland. The eldest, Daniel Bogan, was Louise Bogan’s father, who married Mary Murphy Shields in 1882. ” Because her father worked in paper mills and bottling plants, the family moved around often, in Maine, New Hampshire and finally to Andover, Massachusetts.  Image courtesy of Beltway Poetry Louise began writing poetry at age 14, attending both the Girls Latin School in Boston and then Boston University for one year. ...