GEORGE, Terry

BORN AUGUST 21ST 1955 in Canada, Terry George was a player and volunteer with the Newcastle Bombers in 1979, when the Red Wings were the city's representative team in state competition. The Bombers played out of the Wharf Road ice rink while their Narrabeen rink was under construction. George represented New South Wales on several occasions, and won the 1980 Goodall Cup in Brisbane, coached by Dan "Cowboy" Pedersen, and managed by Harry Cameron.

The squad that assembled at the Four Season Ice Palace Toombul that year included such players as Peter Aitkin, Sandi Logan, Phillip Ginsberg, George Kenning, Kevin Price, Steve Lindsay, Graham Lindsay, Bob Platt, Ron Mann, and Chris Spike. New South Wales defeated Queensland to win the Cup after the association disqualified the Victorians for too many imports. It was the first Cup victory for the state in nine years.

George was a foundation player with the Northstars when the club morphed from the Red Wings in 1981, competing in the new NSW Superleague competition. It was the first season in Australia for newly arrived goalie, David Turik, along with Garry Doré, and local, Steve Lindsay. The Northstars led the League when the rink went into liquidation, forcing some players to retire, others to join teams in Sydney, and later the inline hockey club which started there in the 1990s.

George moved to a flat behind the new Narrabeen rink to play for the Warringah Bombers in the same league with Jim Fuyarchuck, Mark Sadgrove, and Chris Taylor in defense, and Turik in net. The attack included the pairing of new arrival Craig Hutchinson with Jeff Taylor, a partnership destined to rewrite the record books. Although George did not play the 1981 Superleague Final against the Macquarie Bears, his club won the Pat Burley Cup, the minor premiership, from 1982 to 1986, and four Superleague championships in five years (1982, '83, '85, '86). The Australian Sports Commission anointed the Bombers Domestic Team of the Year in 1982.

In 1983, George played for the Bombers in the Slapshot 83 series modified for ABC television at Macquarie ice skating rink in Sydney. The Bombers did not compete in the 1984 series, but George played it with the Canberra Knights captained by Canadian, Rus Johnson. That same year, he played for Australia coached by Jeff Taylor against the touring Teen Ranch All Stars. The visitors won the series, 5-2.

Ross Allomes remembers Terry George's great hip check in defense: "...skating backwards, and just when the forward would think he was through, Terry would change the angle and take the legs with his hip, often resulting in a great somersault". Rad Benicky describes George as generous and funny, a mentor for him and many others at the Bombers club. Club goalie, David Turik, made George a groomsman at his wedding, and still thinks of his former teammate as "one of the finest people I ever met, an amazing gent on and off the ice".

The Superleague Bombers won their third pair of back-to-back premierships in the early-90s, but Terry George lost his battle with cancer that decade. He was survived by his wife, Yvonne, and their two children, TJ and Jessie. The Northstars retired the No 21 Jersey and, each year still, the Newcastle club-member who exemplifies the role of volunteer is awarded the Terry George Shield.