COUNTY VIEW: The broad canvas of Tommie Gorman

His lifespan of 68 years may have been all too short, but Tommie Gorman achieved more in his journalistic career than most of his colleagues could dream of. And his canvas was a broad one – from sport to politics, from the watershed moments of history to the intimate recordings of hearth and home and his native Sligo.
Small wonder then that his funeral service attracted so many from such diverse backgrounds – Gerry Adams and Arlene Foster and Peter Robinson, Kevin Bakhurst and Bertie Ahern, Simon Harris and Micheal Martin, Mary McAleese and Denis O’Brien. And all there because of the innate decency, the essential kindness, of a man who always saw the good in others.
Most Mayo folk will remember his last official engagement in the county when he was guest of the Wild Atlantic Words Festival three years ago. In an absorbing, hour-long session with Tommy Marren of Mid West Radio , the former RTÉ correspondent spoke candidly of the many strings to his bow as a broadcaster. That event came on the heels of the publication of his memoir, ‘Never Better’, when he spoke of his battle with cancer and his optimism for the future, and yet of his rational acceptance that time might not be on his side.
He spoke that night of his famous interview with Roy Keane when the Irish captain sensationally quit the team in the build up to the World Cup and flew home from Saipan. That interview turned out to be the most watched TV excerpt of the year, in which the nation watched in suspense in the hope that somehow, the Sligo man might find a way of talking Keane back from the brink.
Tommie Gorman had become a newsman the hard way. Ten years ago, he outlined that start during a fascinating lecture in Charlestown, when he reflected on his tutelage under the legendary John Healy, who would become Gorman’s mentor, guide, coach and lodestar.
That relationship started when Tommie Gorman was a final year student at the School of Journalism in Rathmines. Word came to him on the grapevine that a newly planned paper in Ballina might be looking for a staffman. That paper was the Western Journal, about to be launched by staunch allies Jim Maguire and John Healy, who had severed their long ties with the Western People. Gorman paid a visit to the Healy residence in Dublin, and the old veteran liked what he saw. “We immediately hit it off,” Tommie recalled. The final term of the School of Journalism was put on hold, and he returned to Sligo as the Western Journal representative.
As a business venture, the Western Journal turned out to be more of a challenge than its founders had realised. The initial belief was that the paper would break even within a year, a prediction which proved to be wildly optimistic. Faced with ongoing losses, the Managing Editor, Jim Maguire opted out after the first year. His replacement, Liam Molloy, resigned to join RTÉ. The decision was made to appoint Tommie Gorman to the top job, at the age of 22.
“What followed were fascinating times,” he remarked to his Charlestown audience, “I was in charge of a staff of almost 30 people, in the middle of a recession, with a badly financed business.”
Within two years, with the writing on the wall, Gorman applied for and was appointed North West correspondent for RTÉ. And the rest is history.
Asked whether he had regrets at not completing that journalism course, he was fond of quoting the father figure, “Kid,” Healy would say, using his favourite term of endearment, “You don’t need a piece of paper to tell that you are a good journalist.”