Nixon, John Stephen

BORN MAY 17TH 1926 IN BATTERSBY ENGLAND, he arrived in Adelaide Australia in 1927 at the age of 1 or 2. After the war, he served in the Adelaide Metropolitan Fire Brigade; worked as an underground and open-cut miner at Mt Isa; and helped build the first road train in Alice Springs with Kurt Johansen. He played roller hockey with Bill Young in Adelaide and also represented South Australia in Rugby League.

A boxer who fought Jack Cousins for the Amatuer Heavy Weight Title of Australia losing on points, his involvement with Ice Hockey in Queensland began in the early-1960s with the local association’s first 34 members. He and his brother Eric played on the first interstate ice hockey team in 1962 and in the first state league.

He introduced his son and daughter to skating there in 1962. On the Oliver Shield, the oldest silverware of the Queensland Ice Hockey association, he won premierships with the Redwings in 1965 and '74. His brother Eric is also there with the Falcons in 1963, '64 and '66; and his son Peter with the Maple Leafs in 1973.

A long-time coach of local junior players, he coached Queensland to its first Tange Championship (U18) in 1974, 5 years after it began, with Bruce, Graeme and David Lindsay, Greg Treeby, Terry Bishop, Mark and Matt Quadrell. His son Peter repeated the success with Bruce Rolin exactly 10 years later in Adelaide. Peter was among the State’s first Goodall Cup Champions in 1977 and won 2 more with South Australia.

John purposely avoided teams in which his son played, wanting players to reach their own goals. "Players should live and breathe a representation or jersey for it to truly mean something." His son was among the first Queenslanders to represent Australia in 1986, when selected for the 1979 Worlds, and was later Head Coach of the Gold Coast Blue Tongues in the AIHL.

John died on April 9th 2015, a Second World War veteran, and a Brisbane Metropolitan Fire Fighter for 39 years, who loved the Brigade and retired reluctantly at 65. His family fought a charge of assisted suicide all the way up to the Supreme Court.

A jury returned a verdict of Not Guilty in 2017, but the family was left with a hefty bill for the legal costs. The John Stephen Nixon Memorial Trust was established with the twin goals of law reform and promoting the game John loved. Members of the ice sports community contributed to the fundraising in 2017.