Tange, Sydney Edward

BORN JUNE 3RD 1917 AT PETERSHAM in Sydney Australia, to parents Carl Anton Tange, a carpenter, and Elizabeth Murray, a machinist, who were married at All Saints Church in Petersham on December 7th 1912. His three sisters were named Edna May, Elsie and Doris Grace. [1, 2] His mariner grandfather Charles arrived in Australia in 1874 on Gisbertus Harmanacus where he qualified with the state marine board as a master and pilot of coastal trade ships, later working as a crane driver at the Goodlet & Smith timber yard in Pyrmont. [1] Charles married Margaret Lett in Sydney in 1888, and Syd's father Charles aka Carl was born in Sydney in 1890. [2]

In 1904, Syd's grandfather was Mate on the Alma Doepel built in Bellingen the year before by Frederick Doepel, who named the topsail schooner after his daughter. His father Carl, was also one of the first crew members at 13 or 14. The ship plied the Tasman in her first year, setting a record for the fastest voyage by a sailing ship, then trading along the New South Wales coast. [3] Like his father before him, Carl later worked as a driver of derrick cranes (1919) around the time Syd was born. [1]

Syd's involvement in the sport of ice hockey stretched back to 1937 when he joined the St George club in the New South Wales Ice Hockey League at the age of nineteen. It was the St George of the club's heyday, led by Jim Brown, with Jim McLauchlain, Reg Jeffries and prolific scorer, Percy Wendt, in the centre or on the left wing. Tange played the game for 10 years until 1947, then made his mark as a coach, referee and an administrator, [1] first as secretary-treasurer of his Club, president of the Glebe club, president of the East Monarchs club, Life Member of the latter.

He was elected assistant treasurer of the New South Wales association, and eventually secretary-treasurer and president [1], positions he held for almost 12 years. He was a co-organiser of the first interstate junior ice hockey match in 1951 with Alwyn Stuart, the manager of St Moritz Melbourne and president of the Pirates IHC.

He won a Goodall Cup as team manager representing New South Wales in Melbourne in 1952 when Claud Hamil was coach.

He was Assistant Manager of the Australian team competing in the 1962 A-Pool World Championships in Colorado, USA. Awarded life membership of the state association in 1960, he was acting president 1964-5 then elected president until 1966. Awarded Life Membership of the national association in 1962, he won the Sportsman of the Year Hudson Trophy in 1967 for 10 years service to the national game, and later served as national president from 1970 to 1973.

In 1969, the inaugural trophy for the national 17 years-and-under tournament was presented by three former NSW players and administrators — Ken Kennedy, Jim Mortimor and Mark Murphy. It was their desire it be named after Syd Tange whose interest in junior development had spanned twenty years. In 1999, the state association published his work Ice Hockey: The NSW Ice Hockey Association Inc. — facts and events 1907-1999, a selective history of the New South Wales ice hockey association.

Syd Tange worked at various occupations including as a radio assembler and stores supervisor. He was Master of Lodge King of Tye and a member of the Francis Drake Lawn Bowls Club. He died on October 24th 2005 and is interred at Woronora Memorial Park in Sydney. [1]