“To sum it up in a nutshell, two hours in Coogan’s once a year is a lifetime of friendships.”
Runners and run-lovers came from far and wide to gather at the beloved Irish bar in NYC’s Washington Heights.The first thing you noticed about Coogan’s was the warmth, how it felt like a refuge from the freezing winds that ripped through the streets outside.The second thing was the noise, how it struck you like a sonic boom the moment you entered, an eclectic blend of accents and anecdotes flying back and forth amid eruptions of laughter, the kind you hear when kindred spirits come together.
The pandemic had already taken from us the thrill of live sport and our ability to bond with fellow citizens over a beer. In shuttering Coogan’s, it has removed one of the few places where those two worlds intersected.When Walsh opened the bar in 1985, he had no interest in the sport of track and field. An Irish-American New York native, his plan was to open a bar that went against the grain.
He knew the drug dealers by name, and every time they turned up at Coogan’s, Walsh turned them away. “They didn’t scare me,” he said.Over the years, Walsh became good friends with many of the great athletes who frequented the bar. There, he first met Al Oerter, a four-time Olympic champion in the discus, who he counts among his closest friends. He also once shared a bottle of whiskey with Carl Lewis.
It was a place to argue over who did what at the Millrose Games, or to sit and listen to older guys tell their tales from the 1980s, wondering just how much the passing years had embellished their stories with a hint of fiction.
“Peter made me feel like I won and got the room all hyped up,” said Merber, who soon had several young athletes coming to his table for a photo. “It’s the definitive version of what a public house is. It’s a shame it’s not going to be there any more.”
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