Mick Barry (bowler)

Mick Barry (10 January 1919 – 6 December 2014) was an Irish road bowler.

Barry was born in Waterfall outside Cork City and was regarded as the greatest road bowler of all time.[1] His career started in 1937 and continued until his last score at Dublin Hill on 1 June 1997.[2] He won eight All-Ireland titles, the last at the age of 56; the first All-Ireland championships were only held in 1963 when Barry was already in his forties, by which time he had won several Munster titles, which were de facto national crowns.[3]

Barry is famous for lofting a 16 oz. bowl over the Chetwynd Viaduct on St. Patrick's Day 1955.[4] He later lived almost in the shadow of the viaduct. He worked as grounds superintendent at University College Cork for 47 years.[2] In 1999 the national road bowling organisation, Ból-Chumann na hÉireann, named Barry the "Supreme Bowler of the Millennium".[1]

He died aged 95 in 2014. His wife Betty and two of their children predeceased him, but he was survived by three daughters and three sons.[1]