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CAREER SUMMARY

Birth
April 1st 1926
Prague Czech Republic

Death
December 4th 2002
Melbourne Australia

Clubs
VIHA Raiders, VIHA Raiders-Hakoah, VIHA Monarchs, VIHA Pirates, VIHA Hakoah, EHC Chur

Goodall Cups
1953, '54, '55

World Championships
1960 [Ice Hockey]

Olympics
1960 [Ice Hockey]

Life Memberships
National ice hockey association, 2000


VIHA President's Medal, 1958

BORN APRIL 1ST 1926, in Prague Czech Republic to Rudolf and Vanda, the family lived not far from Prague at Horní Počernice, a small town known today as the Prague 20 district in the city's east. They also had a house near the Tatra mountains and both parents played tennis, fished, skied and encouraged both sons to follow suit. He escaped communist Czechoslovakia in 1947 and arrived in Australia in December 1951.

He was a highly respected player with VIHA Raiders IHC; a player on three consecutive Goodall Cup champion teams representing Victoria in 1953, 1954 and 1955; an alternate captain for Monarch IHC when they became VIHA premiers in 1959; and a 1960 Australian ice hockey Olympian.

The Raiders became Raiders-Hakoah in 1955 after setting a state record for five consecutive premierships; the first as premiers of the breakaway Victorian Ice Hockey League (VIHL), and the next four as premiers of the Victorian Ice Hockey Association (VIHA). He shocked the local hockey community when he was elected captain of Raiders in 1954, ending a term of three seasons by Tommy Endrei in which time the Club had won three premierships. He transferred to the Monarchs when they folded in 1956 and married Beryl Lamb in 1957.

In his first three seasons at Monarchs, 1956 to 1958, the club were three times runners-up, and three VIHA premierships followed — 1959, 1961 and 1962. In September 1958, he won the state's President's Medal, awarded to the player adjudged by referees' votes to be ice hockey's Best and Fairest for the season. Relishing the responsibility of leading the Moarch attack from centre, his team's high position and high scoring record that year were credited to his skill and team spirit. He was alternate captain when they became VIHA premiers in 1959.

After Monarch, he played ice hockey with the Pirates, then Hakoah. He was coach of Hakoah in 1963 when the Club won their first premiership and the National as underdogs against Glebe Lions (NSW), coached by Australia's first Winter Olympian, Ken Kennedy. Hakoah also won a back-to-back premiership the following season.

He organized a tour of New Zealand in July 1963 that heralded the shape of things to come for the sport in that country. Hakoah played several matches against local teams in Christchurch and at Tekapo. In 1966, he became coach of EHC Chur, a Swiss ice hockey team based in Chur, Switzerland, that was active in National League B until 2008. He worked as an engineer during the day and returned to Melbourne in 1969 after 3 years. He was a design engineer at General Motors (GMH). His son Greig was born in 1960 on the opening day of the Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley USA where Ivo was representing Australia in ice hockey.

Long recognised by opposing teams as one of the hardest centre men in the game to beat, he was made a Life Member of the national association in 2000. He died in Melbourne on December 4th 2002 survived by his wife and three children.

01. Historical Notes

02. Citation Details

Ross Carpenter, 'Vesely, Ivo Bohumil (1926 - 2002)', Legends of Australian Ice, Melbourne, Australia, http://icelegendsaustralia.com/legends-2/bio-vesely.html, accessed online .

03. Select Bibliography

Prague 20: Ivo Bohumil Vesely (1926 - 2002), 2015, Ross Carpenter, Legends of Australian Ice, online

04. Citations
Citations | 1 - 280 | 281-on |
G A L L E R YArrows at right scroll the images
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At Raiders IHC

VAIHA Premiers, Melbourne, Australia, 1952.

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President's Medal

Melbourne, Australia, 1958.

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At Monarchs IHC

VAIHA Premiers, Melbourne, Australia, 1959.

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At Squaw Valley Olympics

California, USA, 1960

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At Pirates IHC

Melbourne, Australia, 1960s

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At Hakoah IHC

VIHA Premiers and National Champions, Melbourne, Australia, 1963.

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Hakoah

St Moritz Ice Palais, Melbourne, 1963

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With Hakoah

Melbourne, 1960s.