When a casual observer takes in any North Harbour bowls tournament he or she might be surprised to learn that some of the ageing frames disguise the fact many of those playing may have been superb athletes in earlier years.
A recent Takapuna extended triples tournament was a reminder of this. Among the line-ups were three bowlers who in another life had represented New Zealand at the pinnacle of all sports events, the Olympic Games.
The trio were Murray Mathieson (New Zealand hockey player, Rome 1960), Mairangi Bay’s Tony Popplewell (rowing eight, Tokyo, 1964) and Bevan Smith (a 200m and 400m track athlete, Munich, 1972).
Smith and Mathieson aren’t Takapuna’s only former high-performance sportsmen. Norman Scott-Morrison was a Scotland international middle-distance runner and at the Christchurch Commonwealth Games ran in the 10,000m race famously won by Dick Tayler. Graeme Blackmore played on the wing for the Marlborough representative rugby team including a Ranfurly Shield match against Hawke’s Bay in 1968 and Peter Oden as a chunky football left wing won heaps of Chatham Cup medals with North Shore United in the 1950s-60s as well as representing Auckland and winning selection for New Zealand.
Mairangi Bay’s another club with a profusion of one-time sporting stars. Brian Rogers, like Mathieson, played hockey for New Zealand and Des Lowe played representative rugby on the wing for Auckland B, North Auckland and Wanganui.
Mairangi’s ladies have also been accomplished in other spheres. A new player Gay Horne (nee McDermit) represented New Zealand as a fencer at the Commonwealth Games of 1966, winning two bronze medals, and 1970 and Gerd Hutcheson (nee Bartman) was a silver medallist in 1994 in the air pistol pairs.
Among Orewa’s playing group is the country’s most decorated Commonwealth Games competitor, pistol shooter Greg Yelavich who has 12 medals including two golds and at Birkenhead there is John Stevens who in the 1960s and 70s won three Auckland squash titles and represented New Zealand.
Another former top oarsman is at Sunnybrae:.Mike Lobel was in the New Zealand eight which won a silver medal at Perth’s 1962 Commonwealth Games.
Many current Harbour bowlers have also been prominent indoor bowlers or have been low handicap golfers.
And there have been those former or past Harbour bowlers who came to the sport from high profile participation in other codes.
In the 1980s there were at Takapuna 1949 All Black Graham Delamore and former test cricketers, Colin Snedden and the champion batsman Bert Sutcliffe.
Another former test cricketer Matt Poore was a Northcote club bowler and also at Northcote was the All Black prop of the 1950s, Snow White.
Another great prop, Johnny Simpson, started his bowls career, which culminated in his becoming Bowls New Zealand president, at Mairangi Bay in the 1950s. For many years, too, one of that club’s best players was top softballer Keith Gerrie. Like Delamore and Poore, Gerrie won several centre titles.
At Milford for many years a keen player was one of New Zealand’s most versatile sportswomen, Vera Burt, who was an international in the 1950s in both hockey and cricket. And Browns Bay had among its ranks two top rugby players of the 1950s, All Black halfback Keith Davis and Auckland representative loose forward Murray Menzies and a distance runner who was one of Arthur Lydiard’s proteges, Merv Hellier.
