‘More heroes in our eyes…’ by KB Hill

“The names of some champions fade like the newspaper clippings of their exploits, kept in dog-eared scrapbooks………But to most youngsters who adopt a hero their memories remain firmly embedded in their minds…….”

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Graham Kerr, for instance, was 11 when his sporting hero entered his life……..

It was early 1949 and Wangaratta had just appointed VFL star and District cricketer Mac Holten as their playing-coach……

It was the perfect storm, he says……

“I was Collingwood, and so was he……And our family happened to be heavily involved with the local ‘Pies…When he coached us to the ‘49 flag, and another three in a quick succession…..well, you can’t get much better than that……He had me hooked….”

Wang used to have their team meetings in Skewe’s Arcade, and Bill Kerr would be in attendance….. His son tagged along and sat on the floor, eyes and ears open, listening to the pearls of wisdom flowing from the lips of the master tactician.

Holten was lured to the Bruck Cricket Club as coach by the WDCA President, Stanley Messenger Arms, who was also the Manager of the Textile company…..

One of the provisions of his appointment was that he’d coach a group of promising junior players, regardless of their club affiliation.

Another of Graham’s boyhood idols, John Brady, was also in that side…..

“We’d have many nights out at Bruck, batting and bowling, then finish up with an hour of fielding….Mac was big on the importance of fielding…..”

“It was a huge thrill later on when I got to play under him in Wangaratta’s Provincial Country Week premiership team of 1957……..

“He was five or so years older than me, and I watched him play the occasional game of Junior League footy when he’d be home from Assumption College. You could see that he already had the makings of a champ….”

 “Years later, my Junior League club, Combined Churches, organised a trip to watch a League game at the MCG – Melbourne versus North…….It was pouring rain and Brady, who was by now North’s centre half-back, was marking the ball as if it was dry….and kicking it a country mile……I’m pretty sure he finished well up in the Brownlow that year. “

“When he came back home for a while we played cricket together at Magpies….”

“We were running late one day, heading out to Whorouly for a game….’JA’ was driving a Ford Zephyr with direct steering which, at times, reached 93 miles an hour on the Oxley Flats Road….There were six of us in the car and we were just about nervous wrecks by the time we arrived there….”

“Brady never changed….He was a larger-than-life personality……terrific to be around….”

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Barry Sullivan, the current President of the Wangaratta Lawn Tennis Club, and the Wang. Rovers Footy Manager, was inspired by a wily veteran whom he encountered in the Ovens & King Tennis Association:

“The O & K was heavily supported back in the day,” ‘Sully’ recalls. “Just about every little town in the area had a tennis team, but the star attraction was former international Rex Hartwig…..”

“I was playing for Everton, aged 16..….My doubles partner ,Gary ‘Sticks’ Allen, and I always looked forward to our clashes with Markwood where Rex would usually combine with his son Grant….”

“The opportunity to be on the same court as Rex was just out of this world….It was like playing opposite a Bjorn Borg or a Jimmy Connors.”

“The hit-up with him would always be very cordial…..He was such a great fellah, and he always allowed you to stay in the game until near the end, when he decided he actually wanted to win…..”

“You could smash a ball at him and he’d hit it from behind his back, or between his legs, for a winner……He was a magician with a tennis racquet……He wasn’t really trying, but he always knew which points to win to get them over the line……”

“Rex still had that will-to-win, even in the O & K…….It was great that he continued to give back to the community the way he did……”

“And, much later, he’d come down to the Wang ANA Tournament and watch the kids go through their paces, engaging with everybody……..He was a real ambassador….just as he was when he’d come and watch his son Leigh and grandson Tyson playing with the Rovers……He was the humblest of champions….”

“I know he was renowned as a great Davis Cup doubles player, but you tend to forget that he had an outstanding singles record, such as finishing runner-up in a US Open final……The more you check his record the more you realise what a legend he was…..”

Rex Hartwig (left) after another Australian Davis Cup victory in the ‘50s

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Ken Jasper is a born-and-bred Rutherglen boy who served in the Victorian Legislative Assembly for 34 years, winning 10 straight elections. He’s always been an avid sports fan and recalls the heady days of his youth when his beloved Redlegs clinched their last flag:

“Unfortunately, I was away at boarding school when we were on the rise again after almost 20 years without a flag, so I had to follow them from afar…..”

“Those players were all my idols…….We had a couple of Morris Medallists in Alan Dunne and Norm Hawking, a future Stawell Gift winner, John Hayes, and a brilliant full forward, ’Nobby’ Gleeson……Then they got Greg Tate to come up from Essendon as coach in 1952, and that seemed to make all the difference ….”

“ He was a star and a lovely fellah with it…… I thought the world of him……I came home to watch them play in the ‘52 Grand Final, but he copped a knock from Wangaratta’s Mac Holten early in the game, which seemed to affect the side….”

“I was 17 when the 1954 Grand Final came around……Just about everybody from Rutherglen was there at the Albury Sportsground…..There was such excitement in the rooms before the game…… ‘Tatey’ gave a wonderful, inspirational speech; it seemed that nothing would stop them from beating Benalla…..”

“He went out and kicked five goals and we were too good for the Demons…..It was a very big thing for our town, and it was ‘Tatey’ who led from the front……..

Greg Tate (seated, third from right) with his Rutherglen side

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Peter Simpson rose to local prominence when he stormed home to win the Wangaratta Wheelrace in 1980…..Aged 23 at the time, he looks back on it as a highlight of his career, but his infatuation with the bike-game has continued to this day:

Pete says it was his uncle, Charlie Larkins, who first spiked his interest in cycling.………”He was a pretty good rider and would offer plenty of advice, but the clincher was when he gave me one of his bikes……I was rapt; got it re-sprayed and it became my first track-bike…”

“I was still a teenager when ‘Puddy’ Vincent was up and about……..It was around the time he won the Wheelrace…….It fired my ambition to do the same …….’Pud’ used to train really hard and I’d sit behind him because I still didn’t know how to ‘do a turn’…….”

“He’d just go like a machine……A hard bugger, too…………He had a big influence on me, ‘Pud’…..”

“ ‘Woodsy’ and ‘Clarkey’ were just coming through when I’d been riding for a few years, but it was a joy to watch their careers unfold……I followed Dean in the ‘Warrnambool’ the year he finished with the Fastest Time…..His time of 5 hours 12 minutes was 25 minutes quicker than any other rider has ever recorded in the 104 editions of the race.”

“I jumped on his bike to go and grab something for him, and glanced at the speedo……It said: 48kph for 267 kilometres…..I thought: ‘How good’s that ! It’ll be in the history books for ever…..”

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Bob Rowland has long been involved in local sport, following it with a passion for nigh-on seven decades:

Triple Magpie premiership player Doug Ferguson, left a lasting impression on him:

“It wasn’t just that Doug was a star half-forward in those brilliant Wangaratta sides of the early fifties,” says Bob…….” He was also a terrific, caring person……When I was playing in the Junior League we’d pop down to watch the Magpies train, and he’d go out of his way to come over and inquire about how our footy was going….”

“He’d often go and train with Junior League clubs, too. Doug belonged to a generation, I guess, that had more respect for people, but you couldn’t help gravitating to him…..”

“I know this is not completely linked to the sporting field, but a local hero, in my eyes was Jack Desmond, whose job as a Teacher involved obtaining work for young apprentices.”

“Often young fellahs would go off the rails and Jack would take it upon himself to become their mentor…..He was a great person….”

Alan (Pud) Vincent with his family after winning the 1975 Wang Wheelrace

Doug Ferguson

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Max Batey made his name as an outstanding swimmer and long-standing coach, but he couldn’t go past one of Wangaratta’s finest – Dean Woods – as his local hero:

“He came from such humble beginnings….What a great story it was……The apprentice-plumber who scales the giddy heights to become one of the nation’s greatest-ever cyclists…..” Max says.

“He started working for Arnold Norton, who identified his potential, and gave him time off from his apprenticeship to pursue his career.”

“I was sitting in the lounge of the Woods family’s Hoad Street residence the night he won Gold in the four-man Pursuit at the Los Angeles Olympics……We contacted him via a ‘phone in the foyer of the pub afterwards, and spoke to him for about an hour and a half…….Dean was a true Wangaratta legend…..

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Jason Boulton won two Wangaratta Gifts in his glittering athletic career. He says he virtually fell into running when injury forced him out of football. It was his uncle, Mick McDonald, who was his initial sporting hero:

“Mick was a tough-as-nails utility player for the Rovers….I was struck by the fact that he got everything out of his football ability……I’d go along every week and follow the number 38 in Brown and Gold….”

“It was a proud moment for Mick, and a great reward for him, when he played in that premiership side in 1971…..The highlight of his life……

Brendan ‘Boofa’ Allan played over 300 games for Milawa, was a premiership captain-coach, and is an O & K Hall of Famer. It’s no wonder that a couple of old Demons were his heroes:

“Neville Pollard was coaching Milawa when I made my senior debut……I was 15, and couldn’t help but be mesmerised by the brilliant ‘Polly’…..”

“He came out from the Rovers in his prime and won a couple of Baker Medals in his seven years with us……He could play anywhere and could swing a game single-handedly….I’d say he was one of the best I’ve seen play O & K footy……Of course, he returned to the Rovers and continued to star with them, without missing a beat….”

“And John Michelini, who was an inspiration on the footy and cricket field, was another I loved playing with…..”

Veteran Robbie Beattie is the state’s oldest active jockey and is still riding the occasional winner. He says another long-lasting hoop, Geoff Bamford, provided the inspiration for his career:

“Geoff rode ‘til he was 53…..He was a cagey old bugger, but you couldn’t find a better bloke….He got involved in all the fun and shit that we used carry on with in the jockey’s room, but would be the first to help you with a bit of advice…..A lovely bloke…..”

“Funny thing…..He rode a winner at Benalla the same day he retired…..so he still had it in him….But he just reckoned it was time to pull the pin….”

Mickey McDonald

Neville Pollard 

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Peter Chisnall did it all in a stellar football career…..Rising from a teen-age premiership player with Corowa, to star in North Melbourne’s first VFL/AFL premiership……He went on to coach several clubs:

“Jimmy Sandral was my first sporting hero,” he says.……”I was just a little fellah when I saw him dominating at centre half-back for the Spiders. Jimmy was a dasher…..He was an awkward-looking left-foot kick, but it was how he got the ball that impressed me…..”

“He could spoil without looking at an opponent…..spoil off their hands, recover, then just blast off…He had tremendous take-off pace.”

“He’d just drawn the curtain on his playing career (in which he’d won three Morris Medals) when I first started with Corowa……But he’d come into the rooms before most games and offer encouragement……Jimmy’s still a revered figure in Corowa.”

“Another person who had a big influence on me was my first footy coach at St. Mary’s Primary School in Corowa – Sister Mary Elizabeth Clancy…..”

“She’d come out in her full nun’s habit, and tuck the front part into the rosary beads around the waist. She was a left-footer, and could drill a stab pass as well as any footballer……She was always on to us about ‘soft hands’: ‘Soften your hands when you’re marking,’ she’d say, ‘and you’ll find the ball will stick’….”

“When I went to a school re-union many years later, she presented me with a book of cuttings she’d kept about my career……..I really appreciated that….”

Peter Chisnall’s hero: Triple Morris Medallist Jimmy Sandral