SADNESS

Glenavon is saddened to learn of the passing of former Belfast Telegraph and Sunday Life Group Sports Editor Jim Gracey.

Jim was famously the third man in the trio of prominent sportswriters with “blue blood” running through their veins – the others were Bill Ireland and Gordon Hanna – who near-dominated football journalism in Northern Ireland during the 1980s and 1990s. Never has a provincial club simultaneously had three supporters amongst the elite in the business of football writing.

Gracey was a lifelong friend of Glenavon’s former chairman, Adrian Teer. He referred to him affectionately as “big Adrian.” There was a period when the two men were in almost daily contact as Adrian ensured that the Belfast Telegraph and Sunday Life had a clear understanding of the club’s perspective on the latest news story to emerge from Mourneview Park.

Jim cut his journalistic teeth during the 1970s as a cub reporter with the Lurgan Mail. Then in 1979 he joined the Belfast Telegraph and eventually became Malcom Brodie’s assistant in the sports department. Later he moved to the Sunday Life and played a particularly prominent role during its formative years.

Gracey became Chairman of the Mary Peters Trust and assisted Dame Mary Peters to write her autobiography, “Mary Peters: My Story.”

In 2021 he retired from his roles with the Belfast Telegraph and Sunday Life.

Blessed with the faculty to tell amusing anecdotes well, Jim was kind, considerate and full of fun.

During his illustrious journalistic career, he mixed with some of the leading figures in sport. However, at Mourneview Park, he will always be remembered as an intrinsic part of the “Ireland, Hanna, Gracey triumvirate” at a time when Glenavon had a unique place at the top table of Irish football writing.

Jim is survived by wife Paula and sister Anne.

A Service of Thanksgiving for his life will be held at Malcomson’s Funeral Home, Robert Street, Lurgan, on Wednesday 22^nd July 2026 at 12 pm.

Be Just and Fear Not.