THE young boxer and member of the travelling community who led the Irish athletes into the stadium for the opening ceremony of the Atlanta Olympics last summer is to take centre stage in another major parade in the United States in two weeks.
Francis Barrett (20), from Hillside, Galway, is to be grand marshal in the St Patrick's Day parade in Memphis, Tennessee.
Memphis had a thriving Irish travelling community of 250 families. Two of them, John "Chili" O'Reilly and "Silky" Sullivan, were so delighted by Barrett's achievement that they wrote to the Mayor of Galway, Mr John Mulholland, in an effort to contact the boxer.
"They saw Francis as a fantastic representative of the travellers and have promised him the best in hospitality during his stay," Mr Mulholland said yesterday.