Former Roscommon footballer leads San Francisco's 173rd annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade
The 2024 Grand Marshal of the San Francisco St. Patrick’s Day Parade, Tom Hunt (centre) with his wife Mary and United Irish Societies President Liam Frost at the Grand Marshal Dinner where Tom was honoured.
A former Roscommon footballer today, Saturday, led San Francisco's 173rd annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade and celebration.
Tom Hunt was born in County Limerick to Seamus and Tessie Hunt. The eldest of seven children, he spent his formative years in County Sligo and Count Mayo before the family relocated to County Roscommon.
He spent a lot of time with his grandmother in her small, rural cottage near Boyle growing up, where most of his family's roots are.
He went on to attend University College Dublin and graduated from there in 1972 with a degree in civil engineering. He worked for Dublin County Council before emigrating to New York a year later.
An avid GAA fan, he has been interested in sport from a young age, playing Gaelic football hurling, handball, soccer and rugby growing up. He was a member of the Roscommon minor, U-21 and senior football teams, winning a Connacht final in 1972. He continued playing after arriving in the US, both for teams in New York and San Francisco where he moved in 1979 after a stint working in Alaska. He is one of the main sponsors of Roscommon GAA alongside Sean Mulryan.
He founded the successful and well known Bay Area construction company Ranger Pipeline in 1982, which employs 140 people in Northern California, many of them Irish. A former board member of the United Irish Societies of San Francisco and supporter of the Irish Pastoral Centre, the father of three has long been a stalwart in the Irish community of San Francisco.
The board of the United Irish Societies said: "Tom is a staunch supporter of all things Irish both in the US and at home. He has been a supporter of the Roscommon team for the past 10 years and was part of the group that developed the GAA playing fields in San Francisco.
“In 2005 he was named Citizen of the Year by the San Francisco Bay Law Enforcement Emerald Society. In 2011 he was honoured by Connacht Athletic and Social Club as Man of Year and October 11th, 2011 was named Tom Hunt Day in San Francisco by then mayor Ed Lee.”
In 2017 Tom was inducted into the San Francisco GAA Hall of Fame. He visits Roscommon regularly, maintaining strong ties to family and old friends.
