Template:Did you know nominations/John Holahan

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The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by AirshipJungleman29 talk 13:29, 27 March 2024 (UTC)

John Holahan

  • ... that John Holahan was first called a "lunatic" by the Duquesne University president for his idea to help the football team, but after it worked, the president told him "I was the lunatic, not you"? Source: Pittsburgh Press ("When John Holahan wanted to put lights in Forbes Field and have Duquesne University play football at night, the president of the school, Father Hehir, called him a lunatic. That was in 1929. Holahan had been trying to move the Dukes into big-time football but just couldn't seem to get over the hump ... "I knew we had to do something drastic or quit football," ... "The next Friday night, Geneva agreed to play under the arcs. People were outside until the second quarter got under way trying to buy tickets and lines extended for a couple of hundred yards, "After the game Father Hehir came to me and said: 'John. I was the lunatic, not you.'"")

Moved to mainspace by BeanieFan11 (talk). Self-nominated at 18:01, 23 February 2024 (UTC). Post-promotion hook changes for this nom will be logged at Template talk:Did you know nominations/John Holahan; consider watching this nomination, if it is successful, until the hook appears on the Main Page.

General eligibility:

Policy compliance:

Hook eligibility:

  • Cited: No - The quote is in the article, but as Holahan's recollection of the quote, so saying "the president told him" without qualification is stretching the source. I'd suggest rewording; maybe just cut the second part and say that Holahan recalled being called a lunatic, or something like that.
  • Interesting: Yes
QPQ: Done.

Overall: RunningTiger123 (talk) 02:14, 19 March 2024 (UTC)

@BeanieFan11: Realized I should have pinged you when I finished, so I'm adding it now. RunningTiger123 (talk) 00:09, 22 March 2024 (UTC)

@RunningTiger123: Hmm... I think the "I was the lunatic" part was important to the interestingness... maybe something like ALT1: ... that John Holahan recalled that he was called a "lunatic" by his school's president for his idea to help the football team, but when it worked, the president said that "I was the lunatic, not you"? That way we say that its him recalling this event. Thoughts? BeanieFan11 (talk) 00:34, 22 March 2024 (UTC)
@BeanieFan11: That's more accurate, but the wording feels a bit clunky. Maybe ALT2: ... that John Holahan recalled both being called a "lunatic" by his school's president for seeking a football game at night and being told afterward by the president, "I was the lunatic, not you"? Open to further suggestions. RunningTiger123 (talk) 00:56, 22 March 2024 (UTC)
@RunningTiger123: That works – one quibble, though: do you think its necessary to link "football"? BeanieFan11 (talk) 01:01, 22 March 2024 (UTC)
@BeanieFan11: That's up to you; I put it since there weren't many links and someone may wonder which version of football was meant, but it's definitely not critical. If you want to remove the link from ALT2, feel free. ALT2 good to go. RunningTiger123 (talk) 04:16, 22 March 2024 (UTC)