Hall of Fame
Joe Tierney was a product of Hillhouse High School in New Haven, Conn., where he was the track captain and won many interscholastic honors in the sport.
He entered Holy Cross in 1921 and immediately made the indoor track squad and ran anchor on the mile relay team. Tierney ran all the middle distances and won New England titles in the 220 and 400 yard dashes. His time in the 440 was a record for many years, and he once held the World’s record for the 500 yard run. He won the National Intercollegiate Championship in the 400 with a time of 47.9, the second man to break 48 seconds in the event.
In 1925 a special one-mile relay race was arranged with Georgetown at Soldier Field in Chicago to determine the national champion. Tierney ran the anchor leg and won the event for Holy Cross.
In 1928, Tierney was a member of the United States Olympic team in the 400 meters and made the trip to Holland. He was eliminated in the semifinals.
When he finished his athletic career he studied at Yale Law School. Tierney worked as a reporter for the New Haven Register before going to New York where he was employed as a Bank Stock trader on Wall Street.
He later returned to Connecticut as a teacher and coach, spending 26 years at Hamden High School. He went on to become an assistant director of admissions at Yale.
