Grand Marshal & Honorary Grand Marshal
Tom Hunt
Grand Marshal
Tom Hunt was born in Limerick, Ireland in 1951. He was the second eldest of seven children born to parents Seamus and Tessie Hunt. At that time the family lived in Scariff, Co. Clare where his father worked for the Department of Agriculture.
In 1953 the family moved to Enniscrone, Co. Sligo where Tom spent his formative years before relocating to Castlebar, Co. Mayo in 1959 and finally Roscommon in 1963. During those early years prior to attending school and during summers, he spent extended periods of time living with his Grandmother in her small rural cottage and farm near Boyle, Co. Roscommon. The Boyle area of North Roscommon is where most of the family roots are, so moving to Roscommon was a homecoming.
The result of all the relocating meant that by the time Tom started college in Dublin at the age of 17 in 1968 he had attended two different primary schools and three different secondary schools having completed his leaving certificate at Cistercian College in Roscrea, Co. Tipperary.
From an early age, Tom was interested in sports such as Gaelic football, hurling, handball, soccer, and rugby. He played all of them competitively. Gaelic football was where he achieved most success. He was a member of the Roscommon minor team in 1968 and 1969, the Roscommon Under 21 team that reached the All-Ireland Final in 1969, and a member of the Roscommon senior football team also in 1969. He played on the Roscommon team that won the Connaught Senior Football Championship in 1972. Tom continued playing Gaelic football, being a member of many New York football teams of the 1970s and early 1980s and also played in San Francisco.
Tom graduated from U.C.D in 1972 with a degree in civil engineering. He worked for the Dublin County Council before emigrating to the U.S. in 1973. He lived in New York throughout the 1970s and worked in Alaska from 1975 to 1977 before relocating to San Francisco in 1979. His construction company, Ranger Pipelines, was formed in 1982 and has continued to grow successfully since then, currently employing 140 people throughout the Bay Area and Northern California.
In 1981 Tom married New York City native, Mary Shea, and they are the proud parents of three children Neil, Jenny, and Julie. The family now includes sons-in-law Brendan and Geoff, and grandchildren Keira, Ava, and Conor.
Tom is a supporter of all things Irish, both in the U.S. and Ireland and has been a sponsor of the Roscommon team in Ireland for the past 10 years. He was part of the group that developed the G.A.A. playing fields on Treasure Island.
In 2005 he was named Citizen of the year by the San Francisco Bay Law Enforcement Emerald Society. In 2011 he was honored by the Connaught Athletic and Social Club as Man of the Year and October 15th, 2011 was named Tom Hunt Day in San Francisco by then mayor, Ed Lee. In 2017 Tom was inducted into the San Francisco G.A.A. Hall of Fame.
Tom is a former board member and staunch supporter of the Irish Pastoral Center. He visits Ireland regularly, maintaining strong ties to family and old friends.
Mike Murphy
Honorary Grand Marshal
Michael Andrew Murphy was born in San Francisco’s Ingleside District in 1940. He was the second of three boys and attended St. Emydius Grammar School. In 1958, he graduated from St. Ignatius High School, earning the nickname "Mr. Football" from legendary coach George “Pat” Malley. As an All-City Center and Linebacker for the 1956 SF AAA Football Championship team, Mike earned a football scholarship to the University of Oregon, later transferring to the University of San Francisco.
In 1964, Mike wed his high school sweetheart, Maureen McCann from the “Banks of the Bann”, after being introduced by her brother before a Christmas dance in 1957. They raised their four children, Molly (Burke), Kerry (Hagan), Peggy (O’Brien), and Michael, in San Francisco’s Park Merced and Sunset District before relocating to Woodside, CA, in 1976. The Murphys loved hosting parties, camping, attending 49er games, and traveling worldwide, especially to Ireland. Mike and Maureen loved spending time with their seven grandchildren (Connor & Daniel Hagan, Maggie & Maureen Burke, Joseph & James Murphy, and Johnny O’Brien), teaching them about their Irish and family heritage.
Mike Murphy’s ancestors, originally from Cork, Ireland, moved to the United States in 1870, becoming prominent City leaders and bridge builders in San Francisco. Mike shared a special bond with his grandfather, Daniel Cornelius Murphy, the City’s Sheriff from 1936 to 1951. His uncles ran Murphy Steel Co., constructing numerous Bay Area bridges. Carving out his own legacy, Mike launched Shamrock Produce Company in 1970, cornering the wholesale mushroom market in an Italian-dominated terminal and successfully running the business for over four decades.
Mike Murphy’s legacy is his annual Irish Bread Baking, a tradition he continued for 51 years, which his children and grandchildren plan to continue into the future. Mike and Maureen began the tradition in March 1972, to celebrate the birth of their fourth child, Mike Jr.. Mike started baking a dozen loaves of Irish soda bread using his grandmother’s recipe, growing to an annual tradition of baking over 100 loaves of bread around St. Patrick’s Day. This event, often featured by San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen, became known for large gatherings, mixing dough in a cast-iron bathtub, sanitizing and blessing the tub with Irish whiskey, Mike’s savory corned beef on rye, and appearing on the St. Patrick’s Day morning TV in San Francisco. Mike and Maureen taught hundreds of young bakers to sing, dance, recite poetry, and mix his delicious dough in venues like the Holy Name cafeteria, apartments, family homes, and large event halls. The annual bread baking always ended in Mike’s moving rendition of “Danny Boy”, with an encore performance each year at his SI Class ’58 reunion on St. Patrick’s Day.
Mike loved the San Francisco St. Patrick’s Day Parade, a tradition he cherished for decades alongside Maureen, their children, and grandchildren. During the 1980s and 90s, his four children took turns leading the St. Mary’s College “Éire Óg Club” as Presidents. Mike added a unique touch to the SF parade by leading the "Éire Óg Club" marchers with a 20-foot plaster statue of St. Patrick from the SF Plasterers Union on his produce-market flatbed truck, a tradition that lasted for over a decade. Proud of their Irish heritage, Mike and Maureen attended the parade each year, rain or shine, wearing the green.
The Murphy family takes pride in Mike being named the 2024 St. Patrick’s Day Honorary Grand Marshal, a tribute to his Irish American heritage and legacy. Mike’s passing on July 4, 2023, marks the loss of a man remembered for his humor, generosity, Irish bread, and motto, "Keep the Faith," and left a lasting impact on all who knew him.