Original Miracle on Ice

JACK KIRRANE, the captain of the 1960 U.S. Olympic team that won America's first hockey gold medal, died Sept. 25 in Quincy, Mass., from complications of Alzheimer's disease. He was 88. A veteran of the U.S. squad at the '48 St. Moritz Games, Kirrane (above) took an unpaid leave from the Brookline (Mass.) Fire Department and sold his pickup to fund his Olympic journey in '60. The 31-year-old defenseman led the U.S. to a win over the U.S.S.R. in Squaw Valley (Calif.) at the height of the Cold War to reach the final, a 9--4 rout of Czechoslovakia. "He's one of the toughest competitors that I ever played with," said teammate Bill Cleary in the 2009 documentary Forgotten Miracle. "If you're going to war, you want Kirrane on your side."