Leo Close

Leo St John Close (20 October 1934 – 18 January 1977) was an Irish Vincentian priest and Paralympian sportsman and organiser, who was first president of the Irish Wheelchair Association. Born in Drumcondra in 1934, in Dublin, Christian Brothers in Marino, at Belvedere College

A lover of sport, he competed in archery, table tennis, javelin, shot put and discus amongst other events, despite his impairment. He was also a regular at Croke Park, where the RTÉ Commentator (another Drumcondra man) Michael O'Hehir would often point out Close sitting in front of Hill 16. Close captained the Irish Team at the first Paralympic Games in 1960 in Rome and competed for Ireland in the 1964 Tokyo Paralympic Games. He competed for New Zealand, where he was working as a priest, in the 1968 Tel Aviv Paralympic Games and in the 1972 Heidelberg Paralympic Games.

After a meeting in the Mater Hospital in Dublin, he helped found the Irish Wheelchair Association, which he became the first chairman of a post he held until 1964, when he went to Dunedin, New Zealand, attending the Paralympics in Tokyo on the way. He was involved in organising disabled sports in New Zealand both locally in Otago and nationally. He also founded the Wheelchair Association in New Zealand.

In the 1975 New Year Honours, Close was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, for services to the paraplegic movement.

Death Close was diagnosed with liver cancer in 1976 and died in Dunedin, New Zealand, on 18 January 1977.