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Frank O'Mara

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Frank O’Mara
Personal information
NationalityIrish
Born (1960-07-17) 17 July 1960 (age 64)
Limerick
EducationUniversity of Arkansas
Sport
SportTrack and Field, running

Frank O’Mara (born 1960 in Limerick) is a former Irish runner. A three-time Olympian, he was twice World Indoor Champion in the 3000m. O’Mara has post-graduate degrees from the University of Arkansas and had a successful career in the wireless industry.

Early life

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O’Mara began his athletics career at age 10, finishing 3rd in the All-Ireland 400m. He attended JFK primary school and St. Munchins College, where he played rugby.[1] O’Mara won the Irish schools 1500m in an intermediate championship record of 3:58.2.[1][2] His victory that day led St. Munchin's to win the team title.[1]

College Athletics

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O’Mara received a scholarship to the University of Arkansas, where he studied engineering. While there, he ran 3:40.5 in Houston, TX in 1983 to become only the third Irishman to ever win the NCAA 1500m.[1] That same year, he was on the first University of Arkansas team to win a Championship of America title at the Penn Relays, where he anchored the distance medley relay.[1] He also anchored the 4 × 1500 m relay team to victory and was named the Penn Relays’ most valuable track performer.[3] That summer he ran 3:52.50 at the Cork City Sports[4] and was a semi-finalist at the inaugural world championships in Helsinki. In 1997, he was inducted into the University of Arkansas Sports Hall of Honor.[5]

Athletics career

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Primarily a miler early on, O’Mara set a personal best in 1985 for the 1500m, finishing second at the Ivo Van Dame Invitational with a time of 3:34.02. Three weeks later, he won the Fifth Avenue Mile in an impressive 3:52.28.[6] He set his personal best for the mile when finishing 4th in the 1986 Grand prix final in Rome with a time of 3:51.06. He finished 8th at the European Championship in Stuttgart in the 1500m race won by Steve Cram ahead of Sebastian Coe.[7] Also that summer, he was a member of the Irish quartet of Coghlan, O’Sullivan and Flynn who broke the World 4 x 1 Mile record, becoming the first team to break 16 minutes, setting a new mark of 15:49.08.[8]

In 1987, O’Mara broke the Irish record for 5,000m, finishing third place at the Bislett Games in Oslo.[9] His time of 13:13.02 stood as the national record for 11 years. A finalist at the 1987 World Championship in Rome, he placed 9th behind the winner Saïd Aouita. He competed in three Olympic Games, finishing 4th in the preliminary rounds of the 1500m at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and fourth in his heat of the 5000m at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, narrowly missing the next round.[10][circular reference]

O’Mara's two major victories in the 3000m happened during World Indoor Championships. At Indianapolis in 1987, he won a tactical race in 8:03.32, beating fellow countryman Paul Donovan, who placed second.[citation needed] In 1989, he failed to defend his title at Budapest, finishing 5th behind Saïd Aouita. That same year, he edged out close friend Marcus O’Sullivan to win the US Indoor Championships at Madison Square Garden.[11] But in 1991, he reclaimed his title with a dominating performance in Seville. Leading at the bell, he easily pulled away from Hammou Boutayeb in a championship record of 7:41.14, which was the third fastest time ever run.[12]

On five occasions, O’Mara was Irish national champion,[13] and in 2015 he was inducted into the Irish Athletics Hall of Fame in 2015.[12]

Business career

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After earning a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering, he served as an assistant coach for the University of Arkansas and was on the coaching staff when Arkansas won its first NCAA Triple Crown in 1985. He continued his education and received an MBA and a JD. He was admitted to the Arkansas Bar in 1993. He was an RTE track & field commentator from 1995 to 2000, during which he covered the Atlanta and Sydney Olympics.

He began his business career as lawyer for Alltel Wireless in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1996. He held various executive roles at Alltel, including EVP of Human Resources and EVP of Customer Service. However, his tenure as Chief Marketing Officer was most notable. During that period, Alltel changed its logo[14] and rebranded over 800 retail locations and 3,000 agent locations, launched a ground breaking product called My Circle[15] and implemented a national, award-winning advertising campaign featuring the rival company's sales guys.[16] In January 2009, Verizon purchased Alltel for $28.1 billion.[17]

O’Mara was named CEO of Allied Wireless, a subsidiary of Atlantic Tele Network (ATW) in September 2009.[18] Atlantic Tele-Network (ATN) bought former Alltel markets from Verizon.[19] ATN also bought the Alltel brand, enabling Allied to operate as Alltel in the acquired markets.[20] O’Mara built a team of largely former Alltel colleagues, who successfully completed major systems, network, and customer support conversions. In 2013, ATN sold Allied Wireless to AT&T.[21] During his tenure as CEO, O’Mara was a member of the executive committee of the board of CTIA (the wireless trade association).[22]

Personal life

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In 2010 O'Mara was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease[23]

Personal Bests

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Year Competition Venue Position Event Notes
1984 Tom Black Invitation Knoxville, Tennessee, US 2nd Outdoor 800 m 1:47.75 Archived 2020-04-03 at the Wayback Machine
1985 Ivo Van Dame Invitational Brussels, Belgium 2nd Outdoor 1500m 3:34.02 Archived 2020-04-03 at the Wayback Machine
1986 Golden Gala Rome, Italy 4th Outdoor mile 3:51.06 Archived 2020-04-03 at the Wayback Machine
1987 Athletissima Lausanne, Switzerland 6th Outdoor 2000m 4:59.00 Archived 2020-04-03 at the Wayback Machine
1989 Nikaïa Grand Prix Nice, France 5th Outdoor 3000m 7:40.41 Archived 2020-04-03 at the Wayback Machine
1988 Kodak Classic Gateshead, United Kingdom 1st Outdoor 2 miles 8:17.78 Archived 2020-04-03 at the Wayback Machine
1987 Bislett Games Oslo, Norway 3rd Outdoor 5000 m 13:13.02 Archived 2020-04-03 at the Wayback Machine
1991 Mt. Sac Relays Walnut, California, US 1st Outdoor 10,000m 27:58.01 Archived 2020-04-03 at the Wayback Machine
1987 Brown Invite Providence, Rhode Island, US 1st Indoor 1500 m 3.37.9h
1986 Fayetteville Invitational Fayetteville, Arkansas, US 1st Indoor mile 3.52.30
1991 World Indoor Championships Sevilla, Spain 1st Indoor 3000 7.41.14

Achievements

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Year Competition Venue Position Event Notes
Representing  Ireland
1984 Olympic Games Los Angeles, United States heats 1500 m 3:41.76
1985 European Indoor Championships Piraeus, Greece 4th 3000 m 8:11.11
1986 European Championships Stuttgart, West Germany 8th 1500 m 3:42.90
1987 World Indoor Championships Indianapolis, United States 1st 3000 m 8:03.32
World Championships Rome, Italy 9th 5000 m 13:32.04
1988 Olympic Games Seoul, South Korea 33rd (h) 5000 m 13:59.46
1989 World Indoor Championships Budapest, Hungary 5th 3000 m 7:52.21
1990 European Championships Split, Yugoslavia 24th (h) 5000 m 13:59.44
1991 World Indoor Championships Seville, Spain 1st 3000 m 7:41.14
World Championships Tokyo, Japan 27th (h) 5000 m 14:03.19
1992 Olympic Games Barcelona, Spain 18th (h) 5000 m 13:38.79
1994 European Championships Helsinki, Finland 13th 5000 m 13:58.75

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e O'Sullivan, Sonia. "Sonia O'Sullivan: Frank O'Mara still an inspiration after all these years". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 8 August 2020. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  2. ^ Mulqueen, Charlie. “O’Mara Shatters Another Record,” Archived 22 April 2019 at the Wayback Machine ‘‘Limerick Leader’’. June 13, 1977.
  3. ^ "Relays' Most Outstanding Performers". Archived from the original on 11 May 2010.
  4. ^ "Fastest Miles at Cork City Sports". Cork City Sports. 13 May 2014. Archived from the original on 22 April 2019. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  5. ^ "Nine New Razorback Hall Of Famers". Arkansas Razorbacks. 19 September 2016. Archived from the original on 2 December 2018. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  6. ^ Yannis, Alex. “O’Mara Wins Mile in an Upset,” Archived 22 April 2019 at the Wayback Machine ‘’New York Times’’. September 29, 1985.
  7. ^ "1986 European Championships Stuttgart 1500m". Archived from the original on 31 December 2019. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
  8. ^ "Relay Record Broken". Archived from the original on 31 October 2023. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
  9. ^ "1987 Bislett Games". Archived from the original on 31 October 2023. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
  10. ^ the Barcelona Olympics
  11. ^ "1989 USA Indoor Championships". Archived from the original on 22 April 2019. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
  12. ^ a b "Irish National Hall of Fame". Archived from the original on 1 April 2019. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
  13. ^ "Irish National Champion" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 December 2018. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
  14. ^ "Alltell Unveils New Spokesman". Archived from the original on 22 April 2019. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
  15. ^ "Alltell Launches My Circle". Archived from the original on 22 April 2019. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
  16. ^ “Chad and the Sales Guys,” Archived 31 March 2022 at the Wayback Machine ‘’2008 Effie Awards’’.
  17. ^ "CBS News 9 January 2009". Archived from the original on 22 April 2019. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
  18. ^ "Atlantic Tele Network Appoints O'Mara". Archived from the original on 22 April 2019. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
  19. ^ "ATN Completes Acquisition". Archived from the original on 22 April 2019. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
  20. ^ "Alltel lives as Allied". Archived from the original on 22 April 2019. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
  21. ^ Seaman, Jessica, “AT&T to Buy Wireless Business” Archived 22 April 2019 at the Wayback Machine ‘‘Arkansas Democrat Gazette’’. January 23, 2013.
  22. ^ "CTIA-The Wireless Association® Announces 2011 Officers and Executive Committee Members". Archived from the original on 22 April 2019. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
  23. ^ Walsh, David (22 February 2024). "Frank O'Mara: The man making most of Parkinson's life sentence". ISSN 0140-0460. Archived from the original on 25 October 2023. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
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