Jack Meagher, 81, masseur to famous athletes, horses

Jack Meagher, a sports masseur who handled both horses and humans, has died.

Mr. Meagher, known as the father of equine sportsmassage, is remembered for applying his well-oiled hands to horses all over the world. He died of cardiopulmonary arrest Sunday in Sea View Retreat in Rowley at the age of 81.

Mr. Meagher's equine clients included race horses and four-footed members of the US Equestrian Olympic Team.

Did the technique work? ''Don't take my word for it. Go ask a horse," Mr. Meagher told the Globe in 1984.

''If it didn't work we wouldn't have used him," Patrick Lynch, facilities manager of the US Equestrian Team headquarters in Gladstone, N.J., said yesterday.

Lynch said he also took advantage of Mr. Meagher's talents when the equestrian team was based in Hamilton, Mass., in the early 1980s. ''It could hurt if you had a bad spot," he said, ''but he did wonders."

Mr. Meagher was born in Gloucester. He first learned massage from a German prisoner of war while serving as a medic in General Patton's Third Army during World War II. He attended several massage schools including the Massachusetts School of Physical Therapy and Columbia Institute in Philadelphia.

Mr. Meagher's human clients included football players Jim Nance and Fred Steinfort and former Celtics Sam and K.C. Jones. For many years he saw clients at the Salem YMCA.

''He marched to his own drummer," his daughter, Louise Marsters of Groveland, said yesterday. ''He could be earthy at times and was a bit of an Archie Bunker -- he certainly was not politically correct -- but he had a passion for life and a passion for his work and was always fun to be around."

A heavyset man with big hands, a broad smile, and a penchant for Irish caps, Mr. Meagher first began applying his hands to horses when a friend with a lame quarter horse came for help in 1970.

''A muscle is a muscle, " Mr. Meagher said in a story published in the Boston Herald in 1981. ''Horse muscles move the same joints as human muscles and spasms develop in the same spot. Through proper massage you reduce friction and increase output, whether you are dealing with a human or a horse."

But there are some differences. ''A horse is the biggest, toughest, strongest athlete in the world, yet he can't tell you where he is hurt," he said in 1981. ''You have to go find the problem. It's kind of a study in anatomy in Braille."

He said that even though his manipulations might cause horses some discomfort, they seemed to know it was for the best. ''Horses may be dumb, but they aren't stupid," he said.

Mr. Meagher sometimes treated both the horse and its rider. ''Heck," he said in 1981, ''I can remember doing a race horse in the morning, then doing the owner and his wife in the afternoon. I think I even petted the dog on the way out the door."

Mr. Meagher was the author or coauthor of several books including ''Sportsmassage," ''Beating Muscle Injuries for Horses" and ''Beating Muscle Injuries for Runners."

He had a craftsman's pride in his work and woe to anyone who said he gave rubdowns. ''The difference between a rubdown and a massage is an art form, an art form called accuracy. You have to know where the architectural stress points are. The places where the traffic jams of spasms happen," he said in 1981.

His unconventional profession earned him a spot on the TV quiz show ''What's My Line" in 1970.

''When Arlene Francis guessed I give horses rubdowns, I answered no, " he said in 1976. ''There was a big fuss about that when they finally guessed horse massage. But I made my point."

In addition to his daughter, he leaves his wife, Elizabeth (McNamara); a son, Kevin of Nahant; a daughter, Anne Jones of Middleton; six grandchildren and a great-grandchild.

A funeral Mass will be said at 10 a.m. today in St. Mary's Church in Rowley.