Smith, Rusty

BORN OCTOBER 17TH, 1949, his parents Jack and Jean met on ice at St Moritz St Kilda in Melbourne which was also where he first skated in 1956. In 1960, he skated at the opening of St Moritz Adelaide, and played in the first official ice hockey game in Adelaide in 1964 with the Under-16 L'il Devils against the Saints, winning the premiership. That same year, he scored 2 goals in his first senior game for the Magpies against the Red Wings. In 1965, he won a second premiership with the L'il Devils then joined the Falcons in 1966.

A player with the state Brown Trophy team in Melbourne that same year, he began to coach it in 1968, and with Stephen Kilgariff was one of the two first South Australians to be selected to the "All-Star" team at the national championships in 1969. He continued on until the mid-1980s and returned again in the early-1990s. He was a regular referee at St Moritz Hindley St between 1968 and 1980 and coach of the state Tange, Brown or Goodall teams for many years from the early-1970s, finally winning Goodall Cups in 1995 (Assistant Coach) and 1997 (Head Coach).

In 1980 and '81, he played with the newly-formed Adelaide Flyers in the inaugural season of the National Ice Hockey League, then in 1983 he played against them with the Penguins at the new Thebarton Ice Arena. His club had moved there with the Red Wings in 1982-3 and it was about that time that he began coaching junior hockey, including the Ice Mice - 5 to 8 year olds - in small area games. He was coach of the state's President's Cup teams (U13) for 5 seasons (1984-88) and the state Peewee team that toured Canada (1985). Tournament director of national Championships held in Adelaide (1982-6), he won the Sport Australia Award for the best run sporting event in 1983.

In 1992 he played the first Adelaide father-son A-Grade games and in 1993 and '94 he was a coach with the Australian National Youth Teams (U18) in Korea and China. He remained with the Falcons until the 1990s, a period of about 30 years, becoming a Life Member in 1977 and serving as club president from the mid-70s until the late-90s. He won the Hawaii Oldtimers Division 2 league undefeated with Thunder Down Under in 1985, and played for the Adelaide Vintage Reds (OiHAN) in Melbourne, Bendigo and Sydney from 1984 until 2000.

A long-time state coaching director from the early-70s, he was secretary (1980-1), state delegate to the national association (1975-83), and president of the state association (late-1980s). Made a Life Member in the early 1990s, he also coached the inaugural state inline hockey teams in Sydney (U23) and Melbourne. Many young players who went on to play ice hockey for Australia, especially in the National Youth Team, had passed through his hockey school at Blackwood.