Researching Nicky Rackard

Born in Killane, County Wexford, Rackard was introduced to sport by his father who had hoped he would become a cricketer. His uncle, John Doran, won an All-Ireland medal as a Gaelic footballer with Wexford in 1918 and it was hurling and Gaelic football that Rackard developed a talent for.

Rackard played competitive hurling as a boarder at St. Kieran's College in Kilkenny. Here he won back-to-back Leinster medals in 1938 and 1939, however, an All-Ireland medal remained elusive. By this stage Rackard had started playing for the local Rathnure St. Anne's club, winning a county junior championship medal in 1940. As a member of the club's senior team he won four county senior championship medals.

Rackard made his debut on the inter-county scene when he was selected for the Wexford minor panel. He was just out of the minor grade when he was selected for the Wexford senior team in 1940. Over the course of the next seventeen years, Rackard won two All-Ireland medals as part of the Wexford hurling breakthrough in 1955 and 1956. He also won four Leinster medals, one National Hurling League medal and one Leinster medal as a Gaelic footballer. He played his last game for Wexford in August 1957.

By the late 1940s, Rackard was a regular in the full-forward line on the Leinster inter-provincial team. Success came in the twilight of his career and he claimed his sole Railway Cup medal in 1956.

Rackard's brothers, Billy and Bobby, also enjoyed All-Ireland success with Wexford.

In retirement from playing Rackard became involved in team management and coaching. It was with the Wexford senior team that he enjoyed his greatest successes as a selector when, in 1968, he helped the team secure the All-Ireland title.

Rackard was most famous for his scoring prowess and was the all-time top championship scorer at the time of his retirement from hurling. His private life was marred by periods of excessive drinking, which had started during his university studies, and eventually developed into alcoholism. After quitting drinking completely in 1970, Rackard travelled the country as a counsellor with Alcoholics Anonymous. In an interview in the Irish Press in 1975, he detailed his life as a recovering alcoholic and became one of the first sportspeople to break the taboo of alcoholism in Ireland. Rackard's death from cancer in April 1976 saw a huge outpouring of grief amongst the hurling community. He was posthumously honoured by being named on the Hurling Team of the Century in 1984, however, he was sensationally omitted from the Hurling Team of the Millennium in favour of Ray Cummins.