GREATER SHEPPARTON
R O TS P S
Damian DRUM MP FEDERAL MEMBER FOR NICHOLLS
, e m a F f o l Hal s t r o p S . y n e o l t l r a a V p p n r e ulbu r Sh o e t G a e e r h t G n e th rt i o o t p n s i o d t e t s c n tio le u indu p b o i g r e t n i p n e r o b o c f e ay any w m t r a to thos u e r o g y r a fo is u d o n y a k , n e f a i s. l h n l o a i r t u c r and t e f n o n t o par al c i t c n o a t s r o d l p i u n im ob t a d s i n t a r t o fi p S ep e k h t o b o t Contact my office for assistance with federal government matters 426 Wyndham Street, Shepparton VIC 3630 damiandrum.com.au
(03) 5821 5371
damian.drum.mp@aph.gov.au
DamianDrumMP Authorised by D. Drum, National Party of Australia, Shepparton. Page 2 Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame, August 2019
GREATER SHEPPARTON
SPORTS
Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame
GREATER SHEPPARTON
SPORTS
Celebrating sports legends
In a community fuelled by devoted athletes, teams and volunteers, this year’s Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame Committee members had challenging decisions ahead of them. The committee, consisting of David Booth, Belinda Conna, Don Kilgour, Darryl Butcher, Margo Koskelainen, Lana Young, Ian Fitzsimmons, Cr Dennis Patterson and Cr Bruce Giovanetti, were tasked with sorting through this year’s nominations for the Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame at the Honour Roll and Junior Honour Roll level. The Honour Roll inductees have each had their achievements recognised at a regional, state or national representative level and Junior Honour Roll inductees have each represented at the Australian representative level as a junior. Twenty-three inspiring nominations will be inducted into the 2019 Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame, all demonstrating to the community the determination and devotion of our local residents. Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame advisory committee chair Cr Bruce Giovanetti said the awards
WRITERS
Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame Advisory Committee
were a fantastic initiative to preserve, celebrate and showcase the history and heritage of local sporting excellence. “It’s great to see our locals getting recognised for their sporting achievements at a number of impressive levels,” Cr Giovanetti said. “Greater Shepparton is a sporting hub with very talented individuals who play hard, contribute to our community and deserve to be recognised.” The Hall of Fame is more than a showcase of athletic abilities. It recognises those who have made a significant contribution to their sport and hopes to inspire our community to participate in sport and recreation and to strive for excellence in their fields. Sport and recreation should be a part of everyone’s lives and through the Sporting Chance Program all residents in Greater Shepparton have the opportunity to be active regardless of their means. Greater Shepparton City Council
together with The Community Fund and FamilyCare aim to provide social and recreational opportunities that enhance the lives of community members. Sporting Chance is here to assist and can fund registration and membership fees up to $80 for approved applicants. Contact council for more information by phone, (03) 5832 9700. The News is once again proud to have partnered with Greater Shepparton City Council for this initiative and has run in-depth profiles on each inductee in the lead-up to the induction ceremony tonight. This has culminated in a keepsake feature product featuring all of the 2019 Honour Roll inductees. We would like to thank and congratulate the committee members for their hard work, especially Don Kilgour for providing in-depth information about the sporting careers of the inductees.
David Booth
Belinda Conna
Don Kilgour
Darryl Butcher
Margo Koskelainen
Lana Young
Ian Fitzsimmons
Cr Dennis Patterson
Cr Bruce Giovanetti
Liam Nash Laura Briggs
SUB-EDITORS
Sandy Lloyd Wendy Russell
PHOTOGRAPHY Rodney Braithwaite Megan Fisher
EDITORIAL DESIGN Bella Considine
Published by: Shepparton News, 7940 Melbourne Rd, Shepparton 3630 Ph: 5831 2312 www.sheppnews.com.au
Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame, August 2019
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Keeping it Local
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Page 4 Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame, August 2019
GREATER SHEPPARTON
SPORTS
Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame
The sporting capital of regional Victoria
The Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame preserves, celebrates and showcases the history of sporting achievements and recognises those who have made a significant contribution to their sport from Greater Shepparton. The Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame inspires our community to participate in sport and recreation and to strive for excellence in their fields. When established in 2017 the 27 inaugural Sports Hall of Fame inductees were recognised for the mark they made at the Australian and international representative level. This year nominations were called for the next two levels of the Sports Hall of Fame. Honour Roll nominations were awarded to those whose achievements were recognised at a regional, state or national representative level and Junior Honour Roll nominations were awarded to those whose achievements were recognised at an
Australian representative level. The achievements and stories of this year’s 23 inductees are as inspiring as they are impressive, showing the community that if you are willing to put in the effort, you will give yourself a chance to succeed. Organised sports are a valuable asset for the Greater Shepparton community, teaching young athletes the important values of leadership, teamwork, determination and volunteerism. Our strong sporting codes are filled with dedicated members putting in hours of work to provide the foundations and assistance for our athletes to learn these values and reach their sporting goals.
Greater Shepparton City Council is strongly committed to promoting access to sport, leisure and recreational facilities and services that are responsive to the cultural, social, recreational and demographic diversity of our community. Through ongoing development of high quality sporting infrastructure throughout Greater Shepparton and facilitating the conduct of regional, intrastate, interstate and national sporting events we position ourselves as the leading sporting capital of regional Victoria. I would like to acknowledge and thank our volunteer members of the Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame Advisory Committee who have
brought the concept of the Sports Hall of Fame to life. The Sports Hall of Fame Honour Roll and Junior Honour Roll induction ceremony tonight recognises and celebrates our inductees. Congratulations to our 23 Honour Roll and Junior Honour Roll inductees and their families. Council is pleased to be able to recognise what you have achieved, and ensure your success is noted permanently as part of Greater Shepparton’s sporting history.
Cr Kim O’Keeffe Mayor, Greater Shepparton City Council
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Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame, August 2019
Page 5
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GREATER SHEPPARTON
SPORTS
Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame
Honour Roll Inductees
Peg Curtis
Netball and softball Although Shepparton’s Peg Curtis would dismiss such words, many describe her as the finest all-round sportswoman the Goulburn Valley has produced.
As a certified weapon in a wide span of sports, Curtis breezed through to championships with ease before carrying her fiery drive to the coaching platform where she impacted the futures of hundreds across the Goulburn Valley. While her accomplishments in many sports are vast, her life of sports did not begin until her high school years. “I only began playing sport when I started at high school. For some reason someone said we’re playing tennis today and I went out and got a racquet and thought this is all right, I can do this.” From there she quickly explored the foreign concept of sport. “I started playing netball and hockey and all things that were there to play.” With natural talent, Curtis became involved in clubs across the Goulburn Valley as a fierce competitor in sports including badminton, golf, hockey, softball, squash, table tennis and later down the track — bowls. But it was the racquet sports in particular that had her hooked. “I loved anything with a racquet,”
she said. “As an athlete my best sport was table tennis. I won the country championships on three occasions.” But her golden swing not only led to countless successes in racquet sports — Curtis sunk not one but two hole-in-ones on the golf course. In 1962 she took on her first coaching role — netball during winter and softball over the summer. “I had two children at St Georges Road Primary School who wanted to play sport. There was no-one else to teach them, so I took it on.” Recognising the lack of opportunities for local athletes, Curtis played a part in forming the VPI Softball Club, the Shepparton South Softball Club and the Shepparton South Netball Club. “Before I knew it, I was coaching all year levels and 20 netball teams with the help of other volunteers.” And it did not take long before Curtis had become a highly respected supercoach, who got alongside athletes of all levels — leading many individuals to new heights in their sporting careers. In 1972 Curtis’ contributions to local sports were recognised and honoured through the renaming of the park at the corner of Shepparton’s Fahey and Cornish Street to the Peg Curtis Park. At the time she received a letter from the acting town clerk Pat Smith that
stated “the council feels that this action is some tribute to your outstanding contribution to sporting activities in this city and to your accomplishments in many sports realms.” The following year Curtis added to her life memberships when the Shepparton Netball Association awarded her with a life membership in acknowledgement of her contribution to junior and senior netball. Curtis went on to coach the Shepparton open Country Week netball team to win seven country championships between 1979 and 1987 — a streak that led her to coach the Victorian Country representative side on five occasions. Between her netball coaching accomplishments, Curtis also coached multiple under 17 and open softball representative teams to state
premierships before closing her coaching chapter in 1995. Curtis said throughout her 33 years in the coach’s seat, the progression she witnessed in individuals was a joy to watch. “The most rewarding part of being a coach was watching and being part of the developing talent in women’s netball and softball in our region. “I also loved the joy of team sports and the friendship that grew between girls and women of different backgrounds.” She said the although they are distant, the memories would live on forever. “The memories that stand out for me are the fantastic bus trips all around the state with Shepparton and Regional representative teams, watching Primary school children develop a love of sport and the fantastic friendships that still exist today.”
“When you are getting whacked around a bit you think to yourself, ‘I’m not sure I am in the right bloody game’. “There were times where I wanted to pack it in, and I did — but I kept coming back to it.” While he will go down as one of the greats to have played the sport in the region, Doyle singles out his greatest achievement as the long-time
friendships formed on the oval. “It means great memories and it means great people, the people within this club are just brilliant,” he said. “When you play here for 10 or 15 years you forge great friendships and to be as successful as we have been means great times, and we will never forget them.”
Bryan Doyle
Cricket
While he remains one of the greatest cricketers to emerge from Shepparton, Bryan Doyle still underplays his achievements out on the oval. As humble as they come, Doyle’s endeavours in the sport include a 10year stretch with Carlton Cricket Club, representing Victoria at first-class level as well as a handful of premierships with Central Park St Brendan’s during its supreme reign of the early 2000s. With no experience playing cricket as a junior, Doyle’s curiosity for leather and willow led him to try his hand at the sport as 15-year-old — and from there his love for the game grew immensely. “I started playing at Dookie in the early 80s when they didn’t have a club,” he said. “We formed a club; a group of young guys and a few older fellas and I played there for probably two or three years. “I won a premiership there in the lower grades before I came to Central Park St Brendan’s.” It was at Central Park that Doyle developed a natural adeptness for wicket-taking alongside star batsman Rohan Larkin, with the pair deciding to pack up the pads and head to
Melbourne in 1989 to have a crack at a more competitive standard of cricket. Doyle went on to spend a decade at Carlton Cricket Club where his consistent performance earnt him a number of caps for the Victorian Bushrangers. He then moved back to the club that had helped mould him, and despite showing out at first-class level, Doyle smiles widest when reminiscing about the glory days in the middle at Deakin Reserve. “I played with some fantastic people and they’re lifelong friends,” Doyle said. “Those years, we won a lot of premierships, and during that time we formed a formidable club. “Even though I played cricket for Victoria … I think those years were the best I ever had.” Doyle endured a love/hate relationship with his craft during his career but said he couldn’t keep himself away from the middle for long. A gritty off-spinner with a knack for picking up scalps, Doyle often flirted with the idea of throwing in the towel throughout his career — but he simply couldn’t. “I was a spin bowler and it is a difficult art,” he said.
Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame, August 2019
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GREATER SHEPPARTON
SPORTS
Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame
Ian Fitzsimmons
Administrator (Australian Rules football and cricket) Most people are all about playing the game, but it is people like Shepparton’s Ian Fitzsimmons who play a major part in keeping sporting clubs alive with their behind-thescenes work. From cricket and football to lawn bowls and tenpin bowling, Fitzsimmons has poured more than six decades into numerous clubs, filling in the gaps by throwing himself into a vast range of roles. It all began when, aged nine, Fitzsimmons scored for Shepparton Youth Club Cricket Club as a way of filling in his Saturday afternoon. By age 14 he had made special memories that he would look back on for the rest of his life. “The day the Pommies came to Shepparton, where the new stand is in Deakin Reserve there used to be an old stand there and I sat on the top of that with the ABC Sport with Dick Mason, who was the top sports man back in those days, and I scored as a 14-year-old,” he said. Fitzsimmons went on to score multiple major games where Shepparton came up against teams including Queensland, West Indies and Pakistan. During his 25 years involved with the club, Fitzsimmons jumped from one role to another — scorer, player, president,
selector, committee man — you name it, Fitzsimmons did it. And one sport led to another. Within years of getting among the cricket crowd, Fitzsimmons was in with the football fanatics at Shepparton Football Club — an organisation with which he has filled various roles across nearly 50 years. Through that time Fitzsimmons said he witnessed many changes and progression in the region’s sport. “In 1955, 1960, Deakin Reserve was a mud heap,” he said. “I was a trainer for Shepp football club back in those days and when we used to run out to the players we’d be sinking four or five inches into the mud.” He said the foul-smelling ground gave rise to jobs that trainers would not consider having to do today. “One of my first jobs as a trainer, at the end of the game I’d have a wet towel and I’d go and wipe the blokes’ legs if they had a scratch and put Mercurochrome on it so they wouldn’t get infected,” he said. “That’s how bad the grounds were.” He said the grounds today were incomparable to those of earlier times. “Now you could play on it in your slippers,” he said. Fitzsimmons said while the grounds were the real game changer in local sport, time on the field also altered dramatically
across the decades. “Between about 1970 and the middle ‘80s I would only get the Saturday off around Christmas time between the cricket and football — one would finish and the other one started,” he said. “I remember the third year that I scored, I scored on Christmas Eve and finished at 6 pm. “Now they have a week before and two weeks after.” While sport was continually changing, the dedication Fitzsimmons showed to his clubs remained constant. “You just got in and did whatever possible,” he said. His commitment shone in all things sports, but nothing showed that more than the number of consecutive games he attended as a trainer. “I did 487 games without missing a Saturday. Plus the seconds and probably about half that amount again for the thirds. “So you add another 487, plus another half … that’s how many games of football I’ve been involved in as a trainer,” he said. Fitzsimmons said he had a similar reputation with the cricket club. “I’d have been lucky to have missed four games in 25 years,” he said. In addition to his countless hours spent volunteering with the football and cricket clubs, Fitzsimmons completed a 10-year stint with Shepparton Tenpin Bowling
Club, during which he took on the secretary position for three years. He also got on board with Shepparton Golf Bowls Club in 1995, where he has contributed as a president of five years, selector and player. With five life memberships, Fitzsimmons said he was honoured to have been heavily involved in sport across the decades. “You don’t really look for it, but I’ve been very, very lucky to have received those (life memberships),” he said. While Fitzsimmons now drives school buses as a day job and delivers The News overnight on a casual basis, he still finds the time to keep up his involvement as a statistician with the local football club. In effect, he is still keeping score.
Amanda Costa (Garner) Dance sport
Winning Dancing With The Stars, performing on international cruise ships and dancing her way to the world’s top 21 are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the lengthy list of accomplishments attributed to Amanda Costa (Garner). Her talent in ballroom dancing was evident from a young age, but it was Costa’s determination and passion that had her breeze through to the world stage. There were challenges along the way, but Costa reflects on her journey with a lifetime of memories and no regrets. Costa was seven when she dipped her toe in the dance studio following her aunt’s recommendation. And that day, her passion for ballroom dancing was born. As one of six children, with four older brothers, Costa began partnering her brothers in their private dance lessons — getting to the studio as often as possible. The siblings, though, did not limit their dancing to the studio. “I remember at home we would watch tapes of dancing all the time and dance from the living room,” Costa said. Before long the Garner family had become a well-known name in ballroom competitions across the state. While three of her brothers gradually faded from the sport, it was she and brother Jeremy who continued on.
At 19, Costa reached a milestone she would never forget. “For Jeremy and I, our first major achievement that I remember was making the final at the Australian Dance Sport Championships, which is a national thing and forever a dream to make that final,” she said. Following their success at the championships, the siblings made their way to number 21 in the world. “That was amazing — it was a big boost for us as well,” she said. “In our competition career, for me that was probably our biggest achievement — and it doesn’t seem like much, but there’s just so many rounds of people, so 21 was amazing. “For us it was the furthest we’ve ever gone, so it was good.” In 2006, Costa appeared on Dancing With The Stars where she partnered Grant Denyer in the show’s fourth season — and went on to win it. “Winning Dancing with the Stars was amazing,” she said. Aged 21 at the time, Costa said the once-in-a-lifetime achievement was surreal. “I don’t think I even realised what was happening,” she said. “I think back now and see it was such a big thing, but at the time I was just so young and didn’t really think much of it.” On her return to competition from a second appearance on Dancing With The
Page 8 Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame, August 2019
Stars in 2007, Costa saw the end of one chapter and the start of another when she traded in her brother as her dance partner to dance with her boyfriend Sebastian Costa. Having taken on students of her own from her early teens, the couple taught locally for three years before relocating to Los Angeles where they continued to teach, compete and perform up to four times a day. While dance was the pair’s passion, Costa’s intense routine and long days on her feet gradually began to take their toll. “We were teaching so many hours, just to get by,” she said. “We were putting all our energy into competing; but because you’ve got to make a living, some days we’d be too tired to even practise and I personally just started to lose the love of it. “Some competitions in America we did quite well in and we were proud of ourselves, but between that and just trying to make ends meet, it was just so tiring.” At that point Costa knew she needed to head in a new direction. “I said to Seb one day, ‘I’m not enjoying this anymore and I can feel I’m getting worse’,” she said. “I said, ‘I want to go and do cruise ships’.” Within six months, the pair retired from competition and took to the stage as part of Royal Caribbean International Productions.
“It was the best thing we ever did,” she said. “We were the featured ballroom couple there to perform, not for judges but just for regular people, so it was completely different.” On the return of the cruise, they spent two weeks at home. During that time they got married and packed their belongings to do it all again. After travelling the world on five different cruise ships, the pair settled down in Shepparton where Costa became pregnant with their first child — Lucas. As proud parents of the nine-month-old and part owners of the Excell Dance Centre in Shepparton, the Costas keep busy with their small family and raising the next generation of the region’s ballroom dancers.
GREATER SHEPPARTON
SPORTS
Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame
Jeremy Garner Dance sport
Jeremy Garner didn’t set out to become a dancer, but soon found his feet as one of Shepparton’s best products in the creative art form. A reluctant starter in the world of ballroom, Garner’s dance career eventually took him across the globe on tour as part of a live dance show, and he also strutted his stuff at the finals of various national and international competitions. “Mum had this idea of all her kids doing ballroom dancing and I was sort of reluctantly put into it, against my will really,” he said. “Back then everyone played football, and so I used to hide from my friends when I started, I didn’t tell anyone about it. “And then it sort of gained momentum, and I gradually liked it.” Garner started showing promise on the dance floor training at Shepparton’s Excell Dance Centre, as well as travelling to Melbourne throughout the week to further his skills alongside his sister Amanda. “Eventually we started doing things overseas, training and doing competitions, so every year we would do a fundraiser and try and raise around $20,000,” he said. Garner’s talent led him to represent Australia at the World Dance Sport championships on three occasions, as well as reaching the final stage at the
Australian Championships six times. His prowess also landed Garner smack bang in the middle of theatre culture’s holy grail, as a part of the dance show Burn the Floor. “We lived just off Times Square on Broadway, we were a little show that was supposed to be 12 weeks, we ended up going for eight months,” he said. “It was just an amazing experience seeing celebrities in the audience and thinking ‘wow, how did I get here from Shepparton?” Waking up in a different city each day became normal for Garner while touring, but with home beckoning he decided to share his talent for dance by opening a dance studio, Pivot, alongside his partner in Melbourne to advocate dancing and wellbeing within his Melbourne community. Most recently Garner was a contestant on Channel 10’s Dancing with the Stars, partnering television presenter and comedienne Denise Scott, who’s laughinducing antics kept him on his toes for his big break on the small screen. “I thought I was past it, so it was great to revisit that and having someone like Denise who is an absolute nutcase alongside me,” she said. “She is hilarious and made me laugh the whole way.” Despite his busy schedule, Garner still finds time to get back to his roots and help the up-and-comers of dance
throughout country Victoria. “I get asked to come back and do things in the country; for instance, I got asked to judge a competition in Wangaratta — and at the time I thought I couldn’t make it. “But then … I remember what it was like to be from the country where you have no access to stuff. “I want to help anytime.” Garner’s successful career in dance
has been a culmination of broken thresholds, pure determination and grit; but if he could change anything, his only wish would have been to venture further outside his comfort zone. “I sort of feel like I have fallen into everything, and I guess I would have wanted to be more confident in myself,” he said. “That is a message for everyone, I suppose, to take the bull by the horns.”
Truly a salt-of-the-earth type, Kilgour’s advocacy for sport in the region reached new heights when he pioneered the Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame in 2014. His conviction and persistence helped sway the local council into setting up the Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame to recognise individual sporting greatness at a
national level. “I couldn’t believe that Shepparton didn’t have anything in the form of a Hall of Fame seeing as nobody had bothered in the past, so we approached the City of Greater Shepparton and they supported it. “I didn’t do all those sorts of things to get awarded, I just wanted to see the promotion of sport in the region.”
Don Kilgour
Administrator (sports commentary) Although the Katamatite local admitted he wasn’t a bona-fide gun on the field, it was his contribution off the park that earned Don Kilgour a spot on the list among a pantheon of some of the region’s finest athletes. Kilgour had always dreamed of becoming a sports commentator due to his deep-rooted love of sport and affinity for shining the spotlight on the local game. His goal came to fruition in 1968 when he became the sports editor of radio station 3SR alongside his twin brother Rod. Kilgour reached his dream of becoming a sports commentator in 1973, moving on from 3SR to television station GMV6. During the next 18 years, Don and his brother covered sport as part of the daily news. “I presented the sports two or three nights a week, and Rod would cover the other days. “Between the two of us we never missed a day, although people probably couldn’t tell the difference.” A keen football enthusiast, Don Kilgour served as president of Goulburn Valley Schoolboys Football Association for 14 years, through which
he took country kids to the big smoke to participate in schoolboys’ carnivals. His efforts were acknowledged when he was honoured with life membership with the association. Kilgour was also heavily involved in senior football, taking on the role of public relations officer for Goulburn Valley Football League. However, despite a mammoth amount of achievements and an endless list of service awards, one achievement Kilgour singles out as a rewarding moment is being a part of the restoration of Shepparton’s premier footballing venue, Deakin Reserve. Kilgour spent 20 years as a member of the Deakin Reserve management committee, helping transform the ground from a rough slice of land idling in the middle of Shepparton to the pristine and carpet-like surface it is today. “I just wanted to see the top level of sport in Shepparton, and AFL teams didn’t want to come here because the facilities weren’t up to scratch,” he said. “I believed that Shepparton should have the best ground in northern Victoria.” His efforts within his field earnt him recognition away from sport, and he spent 11 years as Member for Shepparton in Victorian Parliament.
Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame, August 2019
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GREATER SHEPPARTON
SPORTS
Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame
Rohan Larkin
Cricket
While cricket is widely regarded as a team sport, it was the mental contest at either end of the wicket which Rohan Larkin recalls as what hooked him into the game. “I just enjoyed the competition between the batsman and bowler, the excitement of a one versus one battle,” he said. Armed with soft hands and a knack for scalping wickets, the wily all-rounder climbed the summit of local cricket in Shepparton and decided to ditch the countryside for a shot at the big smoke. As in all good sports stories, Larkin was dished out a serving of luck along the way. Representing Shepparton at Country Week as a young man, Larkin and team-mate Bryan Doyle were noticed by Victorian Premier Cricket club Carlton while the side was conducting a training session. “We were quite fortunate actually, we were playing down there for Vic Country and we must have done all right,” he said. “I think I made a few runs and Doyley must have taken a few wickets. “The game happened to be on a Tuesday, which turned out to be the same day as Carlton training —and they asked us to come and train after that.” But Larkin did far more than just train.
Across the span of 10 years Larkin played more than 170 games for Carlton and Footscray, racking up a remarkable 6317 runs at an average of 42.68. His guile and guts propelled him into the next echelon of the game and he was called into the Victorian Bushrangers’ ranks as cap number 760 — 25 caps on from legendary leggy Shane Warne. Playing at the pinnacle of cricket nationally, Larkin had the opportunity to play against international touring teams as well as becoming captain/coach of Footscray Cricket Club for two years. However, with home calling at the turn of the millennium Larkin decided to head back to his roots. While the coaching position at Central Park St Brendan’s wasn’t available at the time, Larkin led Stanhope to its first flag in 35 years during a short stint at the club. But as soon as the job became free at Deakin Reserve, the club welcomed back one of its favourite sons — and the rest, as they say, is history. Larkin steered the Tigers to a staggering nine Haisman Shield premierships throughout his term at the helm and was awarded life membership to the club in 2012. “Bryan and I made the decision to come back to Central Park to try and give back, but we always said that we could never
Congratulations My congratulations to the inductees of the Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame and to the friends, families and volunteers who have supported you in reaching your goals. Your personal sporting achievements are to be applauded, as is the important role you play in our region. Sport is the lifeblood of many regional communities and it’s no different here — you all help make Greater Shepparton the vibrant, successful community it is. You make our community proud and have provided us with a wonderful opportunity to celebrate you.
Tel: (03) 5831 6944 www.suzannasheed.com.au @SheedSuzanna Suzanna Sheed Funded from Parliamentary Budget. Authorised by: Suzanna Sheed, 5 Vaughan St, Shepparton VIC 3630.
Page 10 Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame, August 2019
repay the debt owed to the club.” But in a glittering career studded with milestones, Larkin said his most cherished moment out on the oval came in the twilight of his journey. “Playing A-grade out at Tallygaroopna a few years ago, one of my sons was in the field and the other was bowling, and they were encouraging each other out on the oval,” Larkin said. “That would have to be my happiest time
on the field.” When he finally decided to give his beloved passion away, Larkin admitted it was difficult at first. “There was definitely a void in my life for a little while, not having trainings on Tuesdays and Thursday after work and playing on the weekend,” he said. “I think what I miss the most is the hour after a game, just having a laugh and reviewing the match with your mates.”
GREATER SHEPPARTON
SPORTS
Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame
Noela Laws
Softball
Noela Laws sure knew how to play ball. During a time when softball in the region prospered for a number of decades, Laws became one of Shepparton’s best and brightest in the sport throughout her 20-year tenure out on the diamond which included two national titles for Victoria in the 1960s. Born and raised in Kyabram, Laws shifted to Shepparton for a position as a cadet copywriter but discovered a hidden proclivity for softball while out on the tennis court when a particularly wayward shot rendered her racquet unusable. With no money for repairs, a suggestion from her colleagues to join them on the diamond turned out to be a defining moment for the curious Laws, after the Shepparton Ramblers coach known only as Mr Dobby immediately recognised her affinity for the sport. “I turned up and played without a glove, no bat, I caught bare-handed and they probably all thought I was a bird from the bush,” she said. “Mr Dobby came up to me after my first training and asked to speak to me once everyone else had gone. “He said, ‘I have not seen as much natural talent in a player of your age for a long time’ and said I could go right to the top.” Laws travelled to and from Melbourne frequently to play in Melbourne Softball Association, training for hours on end with Mr Dobby to help fine-tune her game. Her persistence finally paid off when she was selected for the Victorian State
side in 1962, which turned out to be quite a year for Laws. Despite being a consistent performer for the team, Laws admittedly received her biggest shock ahead of the grand final against Queensland during her debut year as a state representative. “They were announcing the team, I’m sitting back thinking, ‘great, we are going to be in the final’,” she said. “When they called out my name, I just about fell off my chair. “Anyway, I did everything right and we beat Queensland 13–0.” Laws went on to repeat the feat three years later before moving back to Shepparton to play for the Ramblers, as well as coaching the junior under-14 and under-17 sides. Away from softball, Laws was a seasoned netballer who won three premierships with Congupna during softball’s off-season. Her mental toughness was a trait that seemed to rub off on her team-mates, with one instance proving she had the moxie and the clothes to match when a team-mate doubted her side’s ability ahead of an important semi-final. “I went up to one of the girls and pinched her on the arm, to which she said, ‘what did you do that for?’. I said, ‘you’re made of the same stuff they are’,” she said. “We only won by one goal, but it was enough.” For all her former glories, Laws attributes a large part of her success to Mr Dobby’s tutelage, acknowledging her mentor was one of a kind who gave without ever expecting to receive.
“He not only taught you the game, but also how you react, how you need to be up front when somebody talks to you,” she said. “I hope people were proud of how I
did things, I had a mentor that anyone would give their eye-teeth for. “If I hadn’t had Mr Dobson to show me those possibilities, I don’t think I would have gone as far as I did.”
Association in 1951, flourishing in the role for 38 years, giving the community a face to associate with local cricket. Lightfoot then furthered his contribution to the cricketing community when he undertook the presidency at Goulburn Murray Cricket, and served as the vice-president of the Victorian Country Cricket League where he used his influence to bring international touring teams to Shepparton, as well as arranging for a grandstand to be built at Deakin Reserve. His service to the game and passion for the battle at each end of the wicket placed him in a different echelon in 1976 when he received an MBE as a part of the Queen’s Birthday Honours List. His name is etched in Shepparton cricket’s history books and will live on for years to come, with the recipient of the Haisman Shield’s best and fairest awarded the Lightfoot Medal — the most prestigious individual accolade in local cricket. One anecdote that sums up Lightfoot’s ability was when he crossed the
pristine surface at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground alongside Australia’s greatest batsman, Sir Donald Bradman. According to Shepparton News subeditor Ron Anderson, one man in the crowd allegedly exclaimed ‘who’s that bloke standing next to Bert Lightfoot?’. ‘Mr Cricket’ was a true servant of the sport and will be fondly remembered for pioneering the game of cricket in Shepparton.
Bert Lightfoot
Cricket
Penrith had Benaud, Adelaide had Chappell, but Shepparton’s very own cricketing icon went by the name of Bert Lightfoot. ‘Mr Cricket’, as he was affectionately known, became one of the founding fathers of cricket in the region during the late 1920s when Shepparton High School decided to enter a first XI under the name Old Students. While he wasn’t unheard of, few suspected Lightfoot would become the adopted-Australian hero of the Goulburn Valley whose name would continue to be revered almost a century on from his cricketing debut. Born in England, Lightfoot got his first taste of action with leather and willow on Australian soil as a 15-year-old representing Shepparton at Country Week in 1926. He had already begun perfecting the difficult skill of turning the ball as a leg-spinner and impressed enough to warrant cricket whites as a gift from his parents, which at the time were his first pair of long trousers.
And he would need them. During the span of his entire career Lightfoot played a remarkable 26 Country Week series, primarily as a batsman who could be deployed as a utility spinner, and was awarded the captaincy six times for his notable leadership qualities and on-field ruse. As well as playing for Shepparton, Lightfoot was a stalwart for Old Students’ A-grade outfit for almost 30 years, but despite his individual brilliance the side only tasted premiership glory on three occasions during his time in the sun. Away from the middle, Lightfoot was known to be a skilled golfer who represented Shepparton at Country Week, while non-sport followers knew him as the chairman of the Shepparton High School Council and a frequent volunteer of the Apex Club. But although his illustrious career eventually reached its twilight, Lightfoot’s adoration for cricket, his first love, never ceased. He went on to fill the president’s position at Shepparton Cricket
Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame, August 2019
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Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame
Richie Mann
Administrator (Australian Rules football and cricket) As a dairy farmer and a sports nut, Katandra’s Richie Mann was typically found in one of two places — the farm or the field. While a knee injury proved to be a hindrance that crippled Mann’s chances of competing, it did not stop him from living and breathing sport from the sidelines. Mann started out managing the junior football team in Katandra and acting as trainer for the senior team. Before long he realised his passion lay not in working with accomplished players, but in raising up the next generation of athletes. “I wanted to give the kids an opportunity in sports,” he said. It was that small flame that ignited a fire that Mann would pour into the lives of young footballers for more than five decades. Throughout that time Mann started — and became president — of a thirds and fourths competition in the Tungamah League. In the early 1960s Mann took the Goulburn Valley Junior Football team to Melbourne to play in their first Schoolboys’ Carnival — an event that would begin Mann’s 50 years of
involvement with the GV schoolboys’ teams. Following this, he was soon noticed at state level for his dedication to junior football and was recruited to become a trainer for the Victorian schoolboys’ team — a role that had Mann travelling the countryside for 37 years. However, regardless of where Mann’s role took him, he was still found treating players at the Katandra club rooms on match days and fulfilling his role as club president. Mann’s influence and impact on junior sport leaked from the football field to the cricket ground. Jumping on board with the Shepparton Junior Cricket Association in the offseason, Mann made a mark that would last forever. During his early days of involvement, Mann saw a sport that did not provide children with equal opportunities. “There used to be two or three kids on the side that would do all the batting and all the bowling while all the other kids used to field all day.” But that went against his strong sense of equality and he was determined to see a change. “So we brought in the rule that each
kid had so many overs they had to bowl, to make sure every kid had the same opportunity,” he said. Mann said the progress he saw in young athletes from that time forward was astounding and went on to build a better future for junior cricket. Mann went on to hold presidency with the Shepparton Junior Cricket Association for more than 20 years where he played a part in driving the association forward, celebrating many milestones and victories along the way. Looking back over his lifetime of sports involvement, Mann said he was thrilled to see the effects of his service to both sports. “I am very proud of my achievements and being able to help others
THE LEADING TEAM GOOD PEOPLE | GREAT RESULTS You’ll find us here: marketing for your property on four Social Media platforms; averaging an online reach of 27,000 people per week. FREE effective Page 12 Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame, August 2019
throughout my career.” With seven life memberships, an AFL recognition of service award, a centenary sports medal and an Order of Australian Medal — Mann has plenty to remember his sports career by. Mann now only dreams of getting back out on the sports field and doing what he loves most; he has lived at Shepparton’s Ave Maria Village for the past 12 months. “You definitely miss it — being out there, helping players,” he said. Although sport no longer plays a part in everyday life for Mann, his spark is kept alive by close friend Lorna Opie who visits his room each day, his beloved children Jamie and Carole, his five grandchildren and his greatgranddaughter.
GREATER SHEPPARTON
SPORTS
Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame
Fred McMahon
Administrator (Australian Rules football) As a Goulburn Valley League Hall of Fame Legend and a self-confessed football freak, Fred McMahon’s impact as both a player and administrator is immeasurable. From the time he could fit his hands around a Sherrin, McMahon was kicking around with the football fanatics. “I lived near the football ground and I was a bit of a freak that just loved footy, so I started following it when I was about seven years old.” At age 12, McMahon played his first juniors match that would begin a 35year career on the field. As a 16-year-old he won the Shepparton Junior League best player award, which launched him into senior football the following year in 1958. Playing for Tatura in the Goulburn Valley League, the teenager hit the ground running under the great coach, Keith Warburton. Before long, the young star became well known for his precise kicking ability — winning the GVL goal kicking award in 1966 and Tatura’s goal kicking award on eight occasions. McMahon also took hold of the Tatura Club’s best player award in 1966; however, it was his unbelievable record
of 14 runners-up awards that was more often talked about. With opportunities coming from multiple directions — he trained with Collingwood across two years in 1958– 59 and was later asked to train with Melbourne — McMahon turned down his shot at making the then VFL to stay with his local team. “I was a Tatura boy, I was only going to play for Tatura.” His loyalty to the club was smiled upon as McMahon went on to kick 614 goals throughout his 18-year career as a player, and became the first player in the GVL to reach 300 games. “I held that for 13 years, which was a bit of an honour.” He said for the amount of games that were played in that time, his 300th game was a major milestone. “We’ve got to remember we were only playing 16 games a year in those days. “It’s great to have done that — it’s another feather in my cap.” Having been selected for the GVL representative team 11 times and achieved far more than most, McMahon marked the end of an era when he hung up his football boots in 1976. But his involvement did not end there. Keen to carry on his involvement,
McMahon got a taste of coaching before turning to administration. “I found I wasn’t really cut out to be a coach — I was probably too demanding as a coach because I’d been a player, so I got involved in administration and I’ve been involved in that ever since.” While his expertise led him to explore various roles with the AFL for some years, his heart always lay in the local stuff. “I recruited for Melbourne for about six years and Collingwood for about five years,” he said. “I gave that away and got involved with administration with the AFL as a deputy director who looked after juniors, then I moved into being the director. “I did that for about five years and I really enjoyed that.” But he said his heart was in local football. “I’m very passionate about country football. “I want to see it develop and I want to see it grow.” Picking up a number of awards for his service to football along the way, including the Victorian Country Football League service medal and the National Football Council Merit award, McMahon’s diligence and dedication
showed in everything he did. Still a board member and forever a legend in the league, McMahon said his life in football could not have been more rewarding. “My journey’s been absolutely fantastic — I wouldn’t change it for the world,” he said. “Football doesn’t owe me anything, I owe everything to it, because I wouldn’t be where I am today and I wouldn’t have got the opportunity to do what I wanted to do without football.”
trained up.” O’Callaghan said the indoor pool access changed the future for local swimmers. The devoted coach saw the reward of her hard work when 19 of her swimming students went on to succeed at a national level, including Kate Church who competed in the Paralympics in 2000. Having taken on an additional coaching role with the Goulburn Valley Australia Masters in 1997, O’Callaghan was juggling multiple coaching positions while also assisting the lifesaving club. She continued to devote her time to raising up champions through the Shepparton Swimming Club until 2016, when she passed the baton to Shepparton’s Michelle Swift and stepped back to a relief coaching role. In April this year, O’Callaghan was acknowledged for 60 years of involvement with the Shepparton
Swimmers Club. An event was held to mark the occasion. At the celebration O’Callaghan grasped just how many people she had influenced throughout her decades of coaching and mentoring. She was approached by many who told her she had not only taught them swimming skills, but life skills. “One man came to me and said all my career I can trace back to what I learnt in the pool,” she said. Following the major milestone, O’Callaghan was thrilled to learn the Aquamoves indoor aquatic area had been renamed the Willy O’Callaghan Pool Hall. “I still haven’t quite registered that — it’s pretty amazing. I’m very honoured.” O’Callaghan was also the first to receive a life membership with the Australian Masters. “It’s pretty awesome. When I started swimming I never dreamt it would ever get to anything like this.”
Willy O’Callaghan Coach (Swimming)
Growing up as a country girl, Shepparton’s Willy O’Callaghan’s ultimate passion was horses — she only dreamt of having a horse to call her own. But that all changed when her grandmother recognised a problem with the 10-year-old’s shoulders. “I had become quite round-shouldered, so they took me to a physiotherapist and he said the only thing that will fix that is swimming,” O’Callaghan said. “They advised that I join the swimming club, so I did and that’s where it all started.” And from that moment she never looked back. “It grew on me very quickly.” She watched as her shoulders improved with time in the pool and although she did not show much interest in progressing through competitive levels, it was during her teenage years that O’Callaghan began to show an interest in coaching. “I realised very early that I liked coaching, so in 1969 I decided to go full-bore on it. “I opened a swim school and a lot of Shepparton kids went through that in 1969 and that evolved into coaching.” Having progressed from a swimming student to a coach within the Shepparton Swimmers Club, O’Callaghan got alongside the youngsters of the sport to boost them into a career they hoped for.
But it was not always an easy task. While the original Shepparton pool on the shores of Victoria Park Lake was an ideal space for training during the summer, it was not uncommon to come across snakes in the water. “Along where the lake is it was all rocks and that’s where the snakes used to live,” O’Callaghan said. “Sometimes I’d be doing lessons at the pool — which had no fence, you just came when you wanted — and I was taking a group up the deep water end and the kids were in the water when I suddenly spotted a snake behind them and I said everybody very quickly get out.” And with the absence of an indoor pool in Shepparton, O’Callaghan could often be found transporting students to indoor pools over the winter. “Some of my earlier swimmers can remember that once a month we’d go to Puckapunyal in the winter to swim.” O’Callaghan was thrilled to witness a milestone for the town when Aquamoves opened its doors. “One of the reasons it was very hard to get kids to go to national level was because you needed to train through the winter,” she said. “In 1997 when Aquamoves arrived we suddenly had the opening to train kids all year and that made a massive difference. “People said ‘well why weren’t they there earlier?’ They weren’t there earlier because we just couldn’t get them
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Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame
Pamela Pogue
Triathlon
Although parenthood can be considered the ultimate run-around, Pamela Pogue sweated more than most mothers. Shepparton’s very own ‘matriarch of multi-racing’ initially started competing in triathlons as a means to keep fit after a lengthy hockey career, but Pogue took to the sport like a duck to water and never looked back. Growing up on a farm in the remote country town of Katandra, Pogue began training for a sport she hadn’t even heard of by riding to and from school every day. While her father played cricket in the summer and footy in the winter, she decided to adopt hockey as a way to spend her free time. “That was the entertainment back then, there wasn’t much else,” Pogue said. “I was madly into hockey, and so I started playing in Shepparton when I began secondary school because there was just more going on.” But she did far more than just play. Following on from an illustrious tenure playing for Strikers, Pogue was awarded life membership of the club as well as Shepparton Women’s Hockey Association. But in 1989 Pogue found herself
without a hobby and unable to ignore an increasing itch for competitive sport, so she decided to enter a triathlon as a means to stay fit. “Once most of my kids moved out and went to university I still had one child at home, but I had nothing to do so I decided to do a short triathlon and I really loved it,” Pogue said. “By 1992 I was doing the Olympic distance triathlon while working full-time.” Pogue became the Victorian champion for her respective age group that same year and went on to represent Australia at the World Olympic Distance Triathlon in the United States during 1996 alongside fellow Australian McCain. “Going to Cleveland in August while it was still winter at home was a hard lesson, it was so hot I couldn’t even wear a wetsuit,” she said. “I am quite personally driven; but McCain, it was really inspirational to see how hard she worked. “If I got sooky at the conditions, I would simply look at her and realise that it was nothing.” For the next four years Pogue went on to complete eight triathlons per season — a period running from November to March — winning Olympic distance triathlons as well as a number
of Sun Smart series. After the turn of century Pogue continued to perform in her age classes, and even carried the Olympic torch into Tatura in 2000. Pogue finally decided to call it quits in
2012 and was awarded life membership of Shepparton Triathlon Club. Her success wasn’t the result of genetic supremacy or luck, but rather a culmination of training and hard work ingrained in her from a young age.
Congratulations to all of the Sports Hall of Fame recipients for 2019
Around the grounds SATURDAY 17TH AUGUST
ROUND 17 Seymour v Mooroopna Mansfield v Kyabram Echuca v Shepp Swans Euroa v Tatura Rochester v Shepp United Shepparton v Benalla Page 14 Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame, August 2019
GREATER SHEPPARTON
SPORTS
Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame
Martin Rennie
Fire brigade competition Twenty-three years on from becoming the first Australian to complete a ladder race in less than six seconds, Martin Rennie continues to bask in the glory of a record that stands unbeaten. Coming from a family of strong fire brigade competitors, Rennie had natural athleticism embedded in his DNA. “I was just born and bred into it, really.” Choosing to follow in his father’s and brother’s footsteps, he competed in the Country Fire Authority junior competition for the first time at age 11 and did not look back. The more he competed, the more he fell in love with the sport and the rush of adrenalin that came with it. “You’ve got to be a bit of a thrill-seeker,” he said. “I had to have shins of steel because I whacked them a lot. “The smart ones probably walk away, but I kept going.” At age 17 Rennie was up against the big boys in the senior competition. With a fierce battle on his hands, he stepped up his training routine. “I’d train five days a week. “There’s about 10 levels of stairs at Tatura Milk, so I used to run up them six times a night then I’d go for a 10 or 15 km bike ride where I’d chuck in a few sprints. “I went out to Whroo a bit where I’d run up the stairs out there too — that was pretty hard yakka but it was good.” His training paid off in 1992 when Rennie became the state champion for the ladder race with a time of 6.22
seconds — coming in just 13 milliseconds behind Benalla’s Allen Andrew’s record at the time. With an extra year of training up his sleeve, Rennie launched from the starting line to knock his role model off his perch — breaking Andrew’s record of 6.09 seconds that had stood for 15 years. “I did it in 6.06 seconds,” Rennie said. “It was a great feeling because the fellow I had to beat had won it seven times and he was pretty much my idol, so to beat him I was pretty stoked.” Rennie went on to win the event for a third time in 1994 before shaving a further .07 seconds from his existing record — making him the first ever Australian to complete the ladder race in under six seconds, at Bendigo in 1996. His record of 5.99 seconds still stands today. “It’s a great feeling to hold that record,” he said. “The person that’s the champion today — he’s won it eight times — he’s been close but he hasn’t beat me yet. “It makes me feel pretty good because he’s pretty quick.” Having reached the top as a solo competitor, Rennie also went on to compete alongside his younger brother, Shaun Rennie, and two others in a number of team events. The group worked its way to victory, winning the Champion Four event twice. The Champion Four event consists of teams of four running 90 m with a hose wrapped around the drum of their cart before hitting a target.
“The single events were really rewarding but it’s me doing it, whereas the team events were probably harder because you rely on teamwork. “And it was just as special because you get to celebrate as a whole team, not just me.” Following his retirement from the ladder race in 1998, Rennie coached his younger brother to success — seeing him win three titles for himself, before Rennie went on to coach the upcoming generation of competitors, including his own four children, and nieces and nephews. Having celebrated many achievements with his children Shane, Nathan, Matthew and Hailey, he said it always
made him proud to watch them in their element and following in his footsteps. “It’s pretty good to see they’ve all carried it on and are doing so well in it.” Rennie said while he would have liked to continue competing, it was an ankle injury that brought his career to an unwelcomed end. But while his competition was cut short, Rennie said he remained a part of Tatura Fire Brigade and enjoyed working with the team of coaches, including brothers Darren and Shaun, Damien Briese and Daryl Wilson. “They’re a great bunch of blokes, I get a lot of support from them. “It’s just a great organisation to be a part of.”
Club president) started playing when he was 84. “There are not many games where you can start at that age.” Her efforts as a patron and player were recognised fully when she was awarded life membership of Mooroopna Croquet Club in 2004 and there is no
doubt Russell will go down in the history books as one of the region’s most graceful participants within the croquet community. And she remains a fierce competitor on the playing court, with Moore saying she still plays a “mean game of association croquet”.
Joyce Russell Croquet
Joyce Russell has won just about everything under the sun in terms of croquet in the region, but she’d never tell you. However, ask anyone from Mooroopna Croquet Club and they will tell you a few stories about one of the Goulburn Valley’s greatest in the sport. As humble as they come, Russell recalls the moment croquet caught her eye after passing by a game on the street and remembers taking a particular interest in the sport. “I was walking along with a child in a pusher and was watching a game and thought that it looked quite interesting,” she said. “Ian (Russell’s husband who was inducted into the Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame in 2017) was madly into bowls, so I felt that I should get some exercise of my own. “Once I had a go, I really enjoyed it.” From that moment on Russell was enchanted, embarking on a croquet career that has cemented her as one of the crucial cogs in Mooroopna Croquet Club’s existence. She dominated the local scene
for a number of years with mallet in hand, winning an astonishing 16 club championships, paired with four Goulburn Valley championships. “I did fairly well at the club and they were a lovely lot of people,” she said. “Looking back, I suppose I have got my name on the club trophies a bit.” However, her affiliation with the sport didn’t stop at playing, taking her knowledge of the game to the next level by becoming a Victorian referee. “I sat exams to become a referee, as well as becoming a coach, because back in those days, even a pennant game needed a referee,” she said. “I suppose I did it because I was needed.” Up until last year Russell was listed as an emergency player for Mooroopna Croquet Club at the age of 88, with the nature of the game being the key component in what kept her interested after all those years. “I suppose it was the challenge — there are not many sports where you can go out on the green for hours at a time and still be challenged,” she said. “It is also what keeps you fit, Ken Moore (former Mooroopna Croquet
Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame, August 2019
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Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame
Ken Tyquin
Cricket, tennis, badminton, basketball, table tennis When it came to sport, Ken Tyquin could just about do it all. From winning back-to-back best and fairest awards with Shepparton Football Club, to slogging 1000 runs during a season with Shepparton Youth Cricket Club, it is fair to say Tyquin lived life outdoors. Tyquin’s first foray into senior football was with Lemnos, but after his transfer request to Shepparton Football Club was denied he put football on a temporary hiatus and picked up golf, a sport at which, of course, he excelled. He finally donned the Bears’ colours in 1957, which turned out to be a cracker of a year for the all-rounder. Tyquin was named best-and-fairest for Shepparton after leading the team to a premiership that year, earning a spot in the Goulburn Valley Football League representative side that famously went on to beat Victorian Football League giant Geelong. As soon as summer rolled around Tyquin dropped the Sherrin and picked up a cricket bat, blasting his way into the history books with a Shepparton A-grade six-innings masterclass at an average of 131 to warrant a life membership at Shepparton Youth
Cricket Club and a spot in Cricket Shepparton’s Hall of Fame. Tyquin’s hayfever hampered his participation out on the oval during the warmer months, so he chopped and changed between cricket and tennis in order to fuel his insatiable hunger for sporting success. While he excelled at both hard court and lawn forms of the game, Tyquin won the singles and mixed doubles competition at Shepparton Lawn Tennis Club as well as captaining a victorious Shepparton Country Week tennis side to cap the fateful year of 1957. Short of landing on the moon, he had practically done it all within the space of 365 days. But Tyquin wasn’t done yet, and filled his evenings coaching and playing badminton, a sport some speculate he was the most gifted at out of all his adopted codes. He was awarded a service medal from Shepparton Badminton Association in 1968 with many considering Tyquin the region’s best, but his on-court proficiency didn’t stop there. Tyquin’s natural ability shone through while playing basketball upon its arrival
in Shepparton in the 1960s when he took a team to compete in the Victorian Championships. With just about as many records broken that one could count on their fingers and toes, Tyquin is renowned
across the region as an ace of any game at which he tried his hand. Tyquin possessed a degree of athletic capability rarely witnessed nowadays and will be remembered as one of the Goulburn Valley’s all-round talents.
Wendy Lovell MP
Member for Northern Victoria Region
Congratulations to the latest inductees to the GSCC Hall of Fame Working hard for a stronger future for the Goulburn Valley For assistance with State Government issues, please contact my office
p: (03) 5821 6668 e: wendy.lovell@parliament.vic.gov.au WendylovellMP
WendylovellMP
Authorised by Wendy Lovell MP, 222 Wyndham Street Shepparton. Funded from Parliamentary Budget. Page 16 Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame, August 2019
GREATER SHEPPARTON
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Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame
Rosemary Tyquin
Hockey
When 12-year-old Shepparton girl Rosemary Tyquin was recruited to fill in for a hockey game, she could never have imagined it would ultimately lead her to the national stage. “You weren’t allowed to play hockey until you were in second form at high school, but they asked me if I’d fill in this day and from then on I just loved it.” Coming from a family that had not shown interest in sport, Tyquin was the first to hit the sports field and ran with her natural abilities — becoming a high achiever in hockey and softball with the occasional foray into badminton, tennis and golf. Tyquin joined the Younger Set Hockey Club in 1958 when the club could not get enough girls to participate. Between 1965 and 1974, Tyquin helped drive the team to celebrate seven out of nine premierships. From her late teens through to her 20s, Tyquin played in a number of hockey tournaments where her team often celebrated a win — including a memorable victory against the Irish Touring Team in 1956. For three consecutive years she was selected to represent Victoria at the Australian Championships and was named captain of the Victorian State Team in 1962.
“I was very happy to have played for Victoria three times in 1961, ‘62 and ‘63,” she said. Following her success at state level, Tyquin was selected to play for Australia. “I was picked to go to Malaysia to represent Australia for hockey,” she said. “I couldn’t go — I had tonsilitis and I had to have my tonsils out, so that was disappointing, but that was just the way it happened.” Despite the disappointment of seeing someone else take her place in the team, Tyquin continued scoring goals in the hockey world. She was awarded the best-and-fairest player at Country Championships for three consecutive years from 1979. A gold medal was added to her collection of achievements at the 1988 Masters Games in Alice Springs, while she again represented Victoria in the Veterans Championships for another three years. Throughout the years Tyquin took on many different titles, from player to committee member, umpire, selector and coach. Having fulfilled various roles under each of those titles, Tyquin said her title as a life member of Shepparton Hockey Association was one she held dearly. “I was very honoured to receive a life membership of Shepparton Hockey Association in 1974 together with Lorna
Tingay — we were the first to ever be awarded one. “And now my son and daughter are also life members — three in one family makes me very proud.” While hockey was her ultimate passion, her softball accomplishments did not go unnoticed. From the early days of Australian softball, Tyquin was around the softball crowd — playing for Old Students from 1956 where the team celebrated four premierships one after the other. In 1957 Tyquin and teammate Phyllis Davidson played a season with the Swans Softball Club in Melbourne where they were coached by the wellknown Tom Dobson. After putting her sports career on hold while she welcomed her three children into the world along with husband and well-known local sportsman Ken Tyquin, she returned to the softball field as strong as ever. In 1972 Tyquin was the assistant coach for the B-grade team alongside Peg Curtis in the State Softball Championships. And she was again honoured with another life membership to the Shepparton Association in 1973. After a satisfying run in her prime, Tyquin retired from her 18-year teacher’s aide position at Shepparton’s Gowrie St Primary School and her competitive
sports participation came to an end. For 12 months Tyquin spent much of her time with her mother before she died. In that time her sports background continued to shine as she took up golf. While times were difficult with her mother, Tyquin used the golf course as a positive distraction. “To go around and walk the course — it took your mind off Mum and all the worries.” While she continues to enjoy regular golf each Wednesday and Friday at Shepparton Golf Club, Tyquin said it was not an easy sport. “It’s a frustrating sport — one day you’ll go out and you’d think you’ve never held a stick in your hand.” Tyquin said although it was a challenging game, she intended to carry on playing for as long as she could.
For Scott, Shepparton United Football Club holds a special significance, however, with half of her family currently holding life memberships with the club. “Our youngest has just been given his life membership and that will make him the fifth life member at the club in the family — I doubt many other families could say the same,” Scott said. Scott recalls a special moment for the entire family when United last tasted premiership glory. “A big thrill as a supporter was watching Shepparton United win the premiership in 2010,” Scott said.
“Our son Stephen was playing in the game and he was holding the ball as the hooter went, that was pretty special.” And despite the enormity of her commitments while involved, Scott said she never lost passion for sport, no matter the code. The sporting clubs of Shepparton are lucky to have acquired the services of Scott for such a lengthy period of time and her voluntary work within the community has helped the area become recognised as one of country Victoria’s major sporting hubs.
Lucy Scott
Administration (cricket, Australian Rules football, tennis) Lucy Scott worked in various administration roles across a myriad of sporting clubs in Shepparton for more than 50 years, which include life memberships to six organisations in the region — all while looking after her 10 children. Always immaculately organised, Scott undertook a multitude of positions from treasurer to registrar, secretary to scorer, and was infatuated with sport from the moment she was old enough to participate. Growing up in Shepparton during a time where sport was “the only entertainment”, Scott’s spare moments were filled with weekly doses of tennis and netball. She remains humble about her exploits with racquet in hand, but at seven months pregnant she achieved what most would consider impossible by winning the 1974 premiership with Kialla. “The game got washed out and the final had to be played after Easter,” she said. “I had to make myself a tennis dress just so I could play in the final. “The final happened to be on the same day as my sister’s wedding which was also held at St Brendan’s, so as soon as we won I ran straight into the church for the ceremony.” As soon as her children became old
enough to hold a ball, Scott found her niche as a sideline patron for whatever code was in season. “We were a tennis in the summer, football in the winter kind of family, until we had our sixth child and he decided that he wanted to play cricket.” She began scoring for her son’s cricket team by chance when a school teacher asked her to fill in for five minutes. But according to Scott, “he never came back”. It turned out to be a defining moment for Scott, as she went on to devote a large portion of her life as a servant to the local game, a choice she has never regretted. “I enjoyed every bit of it — I just loved sport, and I loved working with figures,” she said. “I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t enjoy it.” She enjoyed it so much so that when her youngest left home during the 1990s, she carried on in an administration role until 2012. Scott’s vast contributions to sport were recognised across Shepparton; she was awarded life membership of Central Park-St Brendan’s Cricket Club, Cricket Shepparton, Kialla Central Tennis Club, Notre Dame College Football Club, Shepparton Junior Football Competition and Shepparton United Football Netball Club.
Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame, August 2019
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GREATER SHEPPARTON
SPORTS
Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame
Frank Scott
Administration (cricket, Australian Rules football, tennis) For Frank Scott, volunteering was a way of life. A decorated coach, official and trainer in football and cricket, Scott’s call of duty lasted for more than half a century while helping mould and nurture some of Shepparton’s greatest products within those sports. Raised in the remote town of Buxton, Scott was a keen sporting enthusiast whose life meant early mornings on the field and late nights on the training park. But his life changed for good after relocating to Shepparton. “Mum moved us out here from Buxton, and as soon as I met Lucy that was it,” he said. Scott raised 10 children alongside wife Lucy, each partaking in some form of sport — which proved to be a key factor in his ability to shepherd some of Shepparton’s footballing and cricketing stars. He became a vital cog at Shepparton United Football Netball Club, making his presence known as a steely trainer with an aptitude for getting the best out of his pupils. Scott helped advise a plethora of emerging footballing talents across the Goulburn Valley throughout his time,
singling out a certain ex-Fremantle midfielder as the most promising player to have been taken under his wing. “The best player I ever coached would probably have to be Mick Barlow who is at Werribee now, he was just one of those unassuming footballers,” he said. Scott credits his success as a trainer to his ability to take on board what others had to offer. “I think it was because I listened to people and I was always prepared to learn. “That is what helped me the job done.” His talent as a trainer received recognition from the Goulburn Valley League executive, earning himself a call-up to become a trainer for the side where he became one of its most valuable servants across a number of years. Aside from football, Scott steered the ship as a trainer for the Goulburn Murray Schoolboys’ Cricket side, as well as the Bendigo and Melbourne Country Week teams. Scott helped transform thousands of young aspiring sporting careers and has been acknowledged with numerous life memberships spanning across various tennis and footballing associations,
as well as the Goulburn Valley Sports Trainers Association. Nowadays, volunteers within sport are a precious commodity and
his dedication to keeping future generations of upcoming talent alive is a testament to his talent and upstanding ability as coach and trainer.
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Page 18 Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame, August 2019
GREATER SHEPPARTON
SPORTS
Junior Honour Roll inductees Four junior legends are being inducted to the Honour Roll in the Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of fame. To be selected they were required to have participated in their sport at the Australian representative level as a junior, as classified by their sporting code.
GREATER SHEPPARTON
SPORTS
Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame
Junior Honour Roll Inductees
Madeleine Garrick
Basketball
For Madeleine Garrick playing basketball started out as a way of tagging along with her brothers. Now, it’s a way of life. From her humble beginnings in her hometown of Shepparton to the pinnacle of Australian basketball, Garrick’s career on the court is one that shouts inspiration and paves the way for young athletes. She fast-tracked her way to the Women’s National Basketball League and represented Australia as part of the national women’s team, and now she’s hoping she might dribble her way to the Olympics. But that was not always the dream for Garrick. While she was no stranger to sports, it was not until age 11 that she played her first season of basketball. “I grew up playing a lot of sports — primarily netball and athletics to start off with,” she said. “I only started playing basketball because I wanted to be involved like my brothers, then I continued to play it because I really enjoyed it and I guess I was good at it too.” And it was only a matter of months before Garrick’s promising future in the game became obvious to those around her. “Soon after beginning, the Junior Gators squad coach Gayle Hatton actually called up my parents and told them I should try out for the team.” Keen to seize the chance, Garrick played with Shepparton’s Junior Gators
before securing a spot in the Lady Gators team at 13. The following year, the young star discovered WNBL. “It wasn’t until I was about 14 that I became aware of what WNBL was and I had people say to me that I could play in the league one day. “After watching my first WNBL game, I knew I wanted to play in the league.” From that moment a dream was born. As Garrick threw herself into the game, she climbed the ranks and earned a spot in the WNBL with Bendigo Spirit. While playing her first game in the league was a dream come true for the teenager, Garrick said it was a nervewracking experience. “I was just this young, lanky, athletic 16-year-old girl playing amongst some of the best grown women in Australia and around the world. And to add to that I wasn’t always the most confident individual either, so I was supernervous.” Eleven years on and Garrick is known across the globe for her achievements at a national and international level. Having been the first Victorian woman to play in all national championships, be awarded the most valuable player award in the 2014 South East Australian Basketball League, celebrate a WNBL premiership, represent Australia in a number of major tournaments around the world and play more than 200 WNBL games — Garrick has proven to be a powerhouse in the sport. But above all, Garrick said making the
Australian Opals team stood as one of her proudest achievements. “One of the greatest achievements, which was always what I was working towards, was getting a call-up to my first ever Opals camp, then going on my first tour and finally making my first official Opals team a few years later.” Now, having fulfilled her long-time goal of playing for the Opals, Garrick’s eyes lie on her future goal to play in the Olympics. “But I always said I don’t just want to go to the Olympics and be on the team, I want to go there as someone, a stud, a feared competitor.” Regardless of when that dream comes to fruition, Garrick said her career so far had been an exciting journey filled with many milestones and memories. “I’ve met some of the greatest people, mentors and friends and travelled all around the world playing the game.” Garrick said while basketball had provided her with a rewarding career, it had affected her life in a more
Glenn Harrap
Volleyball
From his early teenage years up until his early twenties, Glenn Harrap’s life revolved around three basic principles. Pass, set, and spike. The Shepparton product represented Victoria in volleyball from under-15 to under-19 level, admitting the sport ruled his life for the good part of a decade. Harrap was first introduced to volleyball through a modified version of the sport while attending Shepparton North Technical School as a Year 7 student, and showed a knack for the sport. It was from that moment on he was hooked. “I used to play a game with my mates called newcombe, which was in the same context as volleyball where instead of passing the ball you could catch and throw it, and I guess it all sort of progressed from there,” he said. “I absolutely loved the intensity and the explosiveness of the game, the big hits and blocks.” Curiosity got the better of Harrap,
who began playing at junior level in the Shepparton competition, and as his love for the game blossomed, so did his skillset. He attended state trials for the under-15 Victorian side in 1985, impressing the coaches enough to warrant a spot in the team and found immediate success. “I first played under-15s for Victoria in 1985, we came runners-up at nationals in Adelaide that year to South Australia, I remember it vividly,” Harrap said. “It was always Victoria against South Australia, we had that sort of rivalry.” Harrap’s white line fever grew increasingly strong while still a junior as he continued to excel on the court, winning the country championships in 1987 with Shepparton. He was also given the honour of being named captain of the Victorian under-19 state side in 1988, a title on which he looks back with fondness. “I would have to say the most rewarding moment looking back, it was a lot of hard work — I don’t think I ever
Page 20 Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame, August 2019
missed a training,” he said. “It was all about that mateship, winning together, seeing yourself progress and your team-mates getting around you, always pushing you to get better.” But like many top-level athletes living in country Australia, Harrap knew he couldn’t continue playing at peak level unless he progressed in the city. Work commitments eventually took the driving seat in Harrap’s life, and he sidelined volleyball to make the move to Albury in 1996, playing volleyball locally for a few years until a knee injury on the football field forced him into early retirement in 2000. Occasionally filling in for a local side nowadays, Harrap’s time in the sun has come to an end but he looks back on his sporting career with the fondest of memories. “It is such a good sport, I lived volleyball for those eight odd years,” he said. “It wasn’t the most lavish career, but it is nice to get recognised.”
significant way. “Basketball has given me my identity. “It allows me to express myself when playing it.” She said her career was a dream come true, but it would not have happened if not for her parents’ selfless dedication. “Without their belief, sacrifices and ongoing support in many different ways, nothing would have been possible for me.” Garrick said she would be forever grateful for her family and many others who had played a part in contributing to her sporting career throughout the years. As she continues to drive her way to greater success, Garrick hopes her story will motivate young athletes. “Hopefully my journey continues to inspire other athletes — especially female athletes — particularly those from country towns and show them that no matter where you come from, if you want it, then you can achieve it.”
GREATER SHEPPARTON
SPORTS
Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame
Trudi Koskelainen (Skinner) Volleyball
Trudi Skinner (nee Koskelainen) never set out to play volleyball for Victoria. In fact, she never even intended on playing the sport at all. But when a neighbour came knocking on her front door in 1980 asking the then 12-year-old if she wouldn’t mind filling in for a local side, a whole world opened up for the Sheppartonian. “Terry Curtis came around one night and asked if I could fill in, and I loved it from then on,” Skinner said. “She was just a coach here in Shepparton, she basically taught me how to play volleyball. “I had never played volleyball before, so from that night on I played it everywhere.” Skinner went on to represent Victoria as a junior for a number of years, with her ability on and off the court elevating her to become captain for the under-18 state side in 1983. Her craft was honed through a natural sporting ability, excelling at various different round ball games before settling on volleyball as her sport of preference. Skinner’s mother, Margo Koskelainen,
was a bona-fide softball aficionado and Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Famer, and so naturally Skinner adopted the sport, playing it during her formative years. She developed a proficiency for the sport alongside netball and represented Shepparton in both codes in the early 1980s. However, Skinner was picked up by Victorian Volleyball officials while attending a coaching clinic in 1982 and was invited to trial for the Victorian Country under-17 girls’ team as a 14-year-old. She gained selection to the squad, marking the beginning of an illustrious career with the side over the following four years. A gruelling regime followed, with Skinner required to do the long-haul drive to Melbourne every Saturday to train from nine to five during a 17-week stretch with the Victorian side. “Dad had to take me down to Fair Hills High School in Ferntree Gully for eight hours of training, which was the edge of the earth back then,” she said. “I slept all day on Sunday after that,
bruised and sore, but I loved absolutely every minute of it.” Skinner recalls those memories on the road as the ones she cherished the most, taking in the advice from her late father who had never dabbled in the sport. “We would go to Maccas on the way home, and he would tell me what I could do better — my dad never even played a game.
“But I loved it, he gave up his Saturdays, he had to get permission from his company to use the car. “Without them, I wouldn’t have gone, I couldn’t have done that without my parents.” Skinner was gifted at a number of sports, but it was volleyball that changed her life. “It was fabulous, and I wouldn’t change it for the world.”
That same year was topped off with a win in three separate events at the Youth Commonwealth Games shortly before he claimed the Victorian Cyclist of the Year, Track Cyclist of the Year and became the champion of champions at the Australian Championships. Thorsen brought his cycling career to an end on his return from the Tour De Taiwan at age 22. Although he aimed high and accomplished more than he could have imagined in such a short time, Thorsen said he never wished to allow the sport to take over. “I honestly think I’m the least competitive person going around. I’m so laidback and put things into perspective for myself in the sense it’s only a bike
race, why stress?” he said. “The biggest thing to help me relax was in Moscow, on my way to my first world championship we passed a fatal car crash. I can still see the young dead bloke’s face and I just thought, ‘what I am about to race in is nothing in the scheme of life’. I’ve carried that with me since in sport, work and life.” Since returning to the normal life he wished to lead, Thorsen reflected positively on his years of cycling and the support he received from family, friends and sponsors. Thorsen expressed his gratitude to Truscott Pest Control, Baldi Concreting, Cher Herrington at Fix Muscle Performance and GV Line Marking, all of whom were a part of his journey.
Daniel Thorsen
Cycling
From the moment Daniel Thorsen entered the world, he was destined to keep the cycling wheels spinning for the Thorsen family. Following his father John’s success in competing at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, Thorsen showed an interest in cycling at a young age, but it was his best mate Simon Bitcon who ultimately gave him the push to take up racing. From that time, Thorsen cycled his way to success with a vast spread of achievements in a short time, including one he considers to be his proudest accomplishment — completing the Tour De Taiwan in 2007. “As a track cyclist, and a sprinter at that, to complete a tour when even my team and I didn’t think I could, was huge for me,” Thorsen said. While that 800 km means the most to him, his cycling career surrounding that event was one filled with action and excitement. Thorsen was 10 when he won his first track race. As a youngster who was keen to develop his talent and ability, Thorsen regularly spent Wednesday nights at the Shepparton velodrome. At age 14 he was selected to represent Victoria at the state championships. Thorsen said at the time it was the buzz of being on the bike that he liked most, but he has since realised it was the time with his family that he
valued most. “At the time it was the excitement of racing shoulder to shoulder on a 45° angle at 70 km/h,” he said. “Looking back now, it’s the family time — Nan, Mama, Pa and Pop coming to watch and the family road trips all across Australia.” At 16, Thorsen became the under-17 national champion in the sprint event. The following year he signed a contract with Pro Continental Cycling Team Drapac Porsche and was selected for the Australian team for the Junior World Championships in Moscow. There, Thorsen won the title in the scratch race and the team sprint, while placing second and third overall in other events. “One of my many favourite memories was calling my grandfather Frank Thorsen from Moscow after winning bronze in my first world championship race — I should have won, but pulled my foot from the pedal 70 m from the line. I ended up with bronze but calling him to tell him and hearing him cry cracked me and I cried too,” he said. “I will never forget it and he spent so many hours training me. “It was special.” Thorsen continued his momentum, securing another spot in the Australian team for the Los Angeles world titles the next year, where he again reached the podium for the keirin and the team sprint.
Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame, August 2019
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Congratulations to the 23 inductees to the Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame – Honour Roll and Junior Honour Roll Your determination, success and contribution to your chosen sport will give inspiration for future generations to strive for their sporting dreams. The News has been reporting on sporting legends since 1877 and is proud to be a presenting partner with Greater Shepparton City Council for the Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame.
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Greater Shepparton Sports Hall of Fame, August 2019
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GREATER SHEPPARTON
SPORTS
2019 Inductees
Honour Roll CURTIS, Peg..................................................................... Coach (netball and softball) DOYLE, Bryan................................................................. Cricket FITZSIMMONS, Ian................................................ Administrator (AFL and cricket) GARNER, Amanda................................................... Dance sport GARNER, Jeremy...................................................... Dance sport KILGOUR, Don............................................................... Administrator (sports commentary) LARKIN, Rohan............................................................. Cricket LAWS, Noela.................................................................... Softball LIGHTFOOT, Bert (dec).................................... Cricket MANN, Richie................................................................. Administrator (AFL and cricket) MCMAHON, Fred...................................................... Administrator (AFL) O’CALLAGHAN, Willy......................................... Coach (swimming) POGUE, Pamela.......................................................... Triathlon RENNIE, Martin............................................................ Fire brigade competition RUSSELL, Joyce.......................................................... Croquet TYQUIN, Ken (dec).................................................. Badminton, basketball, cricket, table tennis, tennis TYQUIN, Rosemary................................................ Hockey SCOTT, Lucy..................................................................... Administration (cricket, AFL, tennis) SCOTT, Frank.................................................................. Administration (cricket, AFL, tennis) Junior Honour Roll GARRICK, Maddie.................................................... Basketball HARRAP, Glenn........................................................... Volleyball KOSKELAINEN (SKINNER), Trudi...... Volleyball THORSEN, Daniel.................................................... Cycling