[1] Born in Bohola, County Mayo, Ireland, he was a participant of both the 1904 and the 1908 Olympic Games, and was part of a group of Irish-American athletes known as the "Irish Whales".

He died on 27 March 1918, at St. Vincent's Hospital in Manhattan, New York, the day before his 37th birthday, from the Spanish flu pandemic.

It is often claimed that Sheridan fueled a controversy in London in 1908, when flagbearer Ralph Rose refused to dip the flag to King Edward VII.

Sheridan is supposed to have supported Rose by explaining "This flag dips to no earthly king," and it is claimed that his statement exemplified both Irish and American defiance of the British monarchy.

[5] The inscription on the granite Celtic Cross monument marking Martin Sheridan's grave in Calvary Cemetery, Queens, New York says in part: "Devoted to the Institutions of his Country, and the Ideals and Aspirations of his Race.