tonycoleman
Well-Known Member
jimmy conway - 1977 goal against coventry last game of the season!
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Lots of love for Jimmy Conway
On Sports
By kerry eggers
The Portland Tribune, Aug 12, 2010 (1 Reader comment)
CONWAY
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Jimmy Conway would probably be a little embarrassed by all the fuss. A lot of friends and family are going to a lot of trouble to pay tribute to the local soccer legend, who turned 64 on Tuesday.
The former Portland Timbers captain and assistant coach is being honored with a series of “testimonial” events that stretch nearly a month and begin with a golf tournament and dinner/silent auction on Aug. 25.
For Conway — recently diagnosed with trauma-induced dementia — it means a chance to reunite with scores of old friends and family, including sons Paul and Mark, who will be arriving next week from their homes on the East Coast (daughter Laura McGraw lives in Portland).
Family is important to Conway, the eldest of 12 children — six boys, six girls — born to parents in Dublin, Ireland.
“Two of his brothers and two of his sisters are coming, three from Ireland, one from Germany,” wife Noeleen says. “Jimmy is super excited to see them. Our sons are coming in with their wives. When we talk, he’ll say, ‘When are the boys coming?’ He has been asking that daily. On that level, he knows.”
Sadly, there are other things that slip past Conway these days. That’s the reality of dementia, which robs the mind of short-term memory and affects a person’s life in every way.
Doctors believe several concussions sustained during Conway’s lengthy playing career are at the root of the problem.
“I suspect it began in his 50s,” Noeleen says. “The declines were there. They are so subtle. I’d noticed some things, but you kind of brush them off. And then something else pops up.”
Conway, who retired a year ago, still reads the newspaper daily, plays golf often and stays close to the game that has been his life.
“I take him to Timbers games,” says ex-Timber Mick Hoban, who has spearheaded organizational efforts for the testimonial. “He still loves his Timbers.
“But (the dementia) is progressing. He is coherent in some phases, but it’s growing more difficult. It’s a challenge for Noeleen.”
Noeleen is up to it. Married for 41 years — “I’ve served my penance on earth. I’ll go straight to heaven,” she jokes — Jimmy’s better half has been “blown away” by the outpouring of support and involvement in her husband’s tribute.
“When Mick and I originally talked, it was going to be just a dinner,” she says. “It has morphed into this kind of global party, if you will. We’ve reconnected with people we haven’t talked to in 30 years. People are coming from Ireland and England and the East Coast and Canada. People have sent videos.
“It has been mind-blowing, it really has. Very humbling. It is like somebody wrapping a great big warm blanket around you. It feels so good.”
=======================================
Lots of love for Jimmy Conway
On Sports
By kerry eggers
The Portland Tribune, Aug 12, 2010 (1 Reader comment)
CONWAY
ADVERTISEMENTS
Jimmy Conway would probably be a little embarrassed by all the fuss. A lot of friends and family are going to a lot of trouble to pay tribute to the local soccer legend, who turned 64 on Tuesday.
The former Portland Timbers captain and assistant coach is being honored with a series of “testimonial” events that stretch nearly a month and begin with a golf tournament and dinner/silent auction on Aug. 25.
For Conway — recently diagnosed with trauma-induced dementia — it means a chance to reunite with scores of old friends and family, including sons Paul and Mark, who will be arriving next week from their homes on the East Coast (daughter Laura McGraw lives in Portland).
Family is important to Conway, the eldest of 12 children — six boys, six girls — born to parents in Dublin, Ireland.
“Two of his brothers and two of his sisters are coming, three from Ireland, one from Germany,” wife Noeleen says. “Jimmy is super excited to see them. Our sons are coming in with their wives. When we talk, he’ll say, ‘When are the boys coming?’ He has been asking that daily. On that level, he knows.”
Sadly, there are other things that slip past Conway these days. That’s the reality of dementia, which robs the mind of short-term memory and affects a person’s life in every way.
Doctors believe several concussions sustained during Conway’s lengthy playing career are at the root of the problem.
“I suspect it began in his 50s,” Noeleen says. “The declines were there. They are so subtle. I’d noticed some things, but you kind of brush them off. And then something else pops up.”
Conway, who retired a year ago, still reads the newspaper daily, plays golf often and stays close to the game that has been his life.
“I take him to Timbers games,” says ex-Timber Mick Hoban, who has spearheaded organizational efforts for the testimonial. “He still loves his Timbers.
“But (the dementia) is progressing. He is coherent in some phases, but it’s growing more difficult. It’s a challenge for Noeleen.”
Noeleen is up to it. Married for 41 years — “I’ve served my penance on earth. I’ll go straight to heaven,” she jokes — Jimmy’s better half has been “blown away” by the outpouring of support and involvement in her husband’s tribute.
“When Mick and I originally talked, it was going to be just a dinner,” she says. “It has morphed into this kind of global party, if you will. We’ve reconnected with people we haven’t talked to in 30 years. People are coming from Ireland and England and the East Coast and Canada. People have sent videos.
“It has been mind-blowing, it really has. Very humbling. It is like somebody wrapping a great big warm blanket around you. It feels so good.”