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John Mulcahy, the 1904 Olympic rowing champion who later founded Fordham University’s men’s rowing program, will be honored at the school’s 2026 Athletic Hall of Fame ceremony Sept. 25 on Fordham’s Rose Hill campus.
Mulcahy, who died in 1942, was inducted into the Fordham Athletic Hall of Fame in 1991, but no family member was present to accept the honor. His grandson, actor and director Jack Mulcahy, will accept his grandfather’s Hall of Fame plaque at this year’s ceremony.
John Mulcahy won his first double-sculls title in 1891, the same year he graduated from what is now Fordham Prep. He remained at St. John’s College, now Fordham University, graduating three years later.
At the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis, Mulcahy and William Varley won gold in the double sculls and silver in the coxless pair. Mulcahy returned to Fordham and founded the university’s rowing program in 1915.
He was inducted into the National Rowing Hall of Fame in 1956 and the Fordham Athletic Hall of Fame in 1991.
Fordham will also induct 2016 graduate Fiona Murtagh, the school’s other Olympic rowing medalist, at this year’s ceremony. Murtagh won bronze for Ireland in the women’s four at the Tokyo Olympics, held in 2021, and went on to win the women’s single sculls at the 2025 World Rowing Championships in Shanghai.
Murtagh is believed to be the first Fordham athlete to win a senior world championship.
