Scotch College

OS Aths Club 75 Year Dinner

OS Aths Club 75 Year Dinner and Team of the Century

Old Scotch Collegians' Athletic Club celebrated its 75th anniversary in fine style at a celebratory dinner on 20 October 2001. One hundred and seventy-three past and present members and friends attended the black tie function at Queen's Hall, Parliament House.

Guests proceeded through the entrance to mingle in the foyer and admire the many valuable photographs and trophies on display there, some dating back to the 1930s, before being seated in the main hall.

Neil Lucas ('64) officially welcomed the guests, including special guest his Excellency the Governor of Victoria, Mr John Landy.

He made special mention of the oldest former club members in attendance, Keith Wilson ('28) and Sir Edward Cohen ('30).

Neil also read to the audience from a letter of apology received from his Excellency the Right Reverend Dr Peter Hollingworth Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia ('51), who was a member of the club during the early 1950s. Peter Hollingworth, who recalled that, at the personal encouragement throughout the 3000m steeplechase by team mate Ron Stuart, ran a Personal Best by about seventeen seconds, to enable the club to go up to 'A Grade'.

He wrote 'I think that it was at that point that I began to realise that there was something more to life than achieving our own Personal Best'.

Master of Ceremonies Ian Cover then introduced the Governor, who gave an entertaining speech, during which he made special mention of several Old Scotch athletes against whom he competed in the 1950s and lamented the lack of publicity now given to the annual APS Sports.

Club President Andrew Simm ('96) presented the Governor with the book 'Phar Lap'.

The co-author of the book, Peter Thompson ('83), was present at the dinner as a former club member. The Governor clearly enjoyed being seated with his old friends Don Macmillan, Bob Grant ('51) and Judy Patching during the evening.

During the remainder of the night, Andrew Cochrane ('72), Colin Findlay ('53) and Mark Purvis ('75) announced the club's 'Team of the Century'. Assisted by a dazzling display of old photographs presented on a large screen and a thorough statistical analysis prepared by Andrew, forty athletes and three officials were chosen across the full range of track and field events, plus the marathon.

The selectors were unanimous in their choice of Bob Grant as captain of the Team of the Century. Twenty-one of the athletes were present at the dinner to receive special certificates to mark their selection in the team. Sue Bonella and Alison Macdonald attended as special guests of the club to accept certificates on behalf of the late Rod Bonella ('54) and Ewen Macdonald ('88).

There was universal respect accorded to the achievements of the team members, both old and young. The 'old-timers' murmured their appreciation of 100m sprinter Nick Rennie's Personal Best time of 10.47 seconds, while the younger members were equally impressed with the triple jump of 14.58m by Brian Laycock ('54) which remains the club record fifty years after the mark was set.

Mark Purvis closed the evening by distributing copies of 'Red Singlets on the Line', a book telling the story of Old Scotch Collegians' Athletic Club since 1926 in words, photographs and statistics. There are a handful of copies of the book remaining for sale at $20.00 plus postage if you are quick. Contact Mark on 9534 5105 or mdpurvis@bigpond.net.au to reserve your copy.

OSCAC Team of the Century

100m	N C Rennie, F W W Scott ('32), K R McK Don ('44)
200m	B C Randall ('51), J Ford, P W Burrey ('68)
400m	C A Mackenzie ('87), M P Moresi, D K Evans ('60)
800m	E J Macdonald ('87), R J Tallent ('74), R E R Smith ('59)
1500m	G C Wise ('52), D Lightfoot, P G Hepworth
5000m	E McK Wilson ('71), S Austin, A Lloyd
Marathon	R F Bonella ('54), G J Lyons, M D Purvis ('75)
3000m Steeple	J R Cormack ('78), A D Cochrane ('72)
110m Hurdles	C A Sloan, J R Neil ('60)
400m Hurdles	C McA Hilliard ('74), W J R Grant ('68)
3000m Walk	I L MacDougall, J Thorpe ('69)
5000m Walk	A C Jamieson ('64), D J Bennett ('66)
High Jump	L B Mason ('18)
Long Jump	D A Hopkins ('58)
Triple Jump	B T Laycock ('54)
Shot Put	D J Nunan ('58)
Discus	P D G Strang ('56)
Javelin	R J Grant ('53) - Captain
Hammer	R D Glass ('67)
Pole Vault	M J P Smith ('79)
Decathlon	J A Welsh ('25)
Officials	A A Jamieson ('18), H A Engel, P W Lucas ('53)