Coles, Harold

BORN JULY 30TH 1942 at Armadale in Melbourne Australia to parents Percy Templemore Coles and Norma Jean Clines. His father worked as a chemist for Nicholas Aspro; his mother's family were associated with the J C Williamson's theatrical company; and his sister became a medalist in the Australian Figure Skating Championships. He started skating in Melbourne in 1957 when he was 15, and took up ice hockey the next season with the Pirates at the Sunday morning practice sessions.

He struck up a friendship with the child figure skater Tim Spencer, who also wanted to play ice hockey, and the pair practiced together in a back room of the St Moritz ice rink in St Kilda, hitting pucks and balls made of tape marks at rink walls. At the start of the 1959 season, Olympian Vic Ekberg, coach of the Pirates, asked Coles if he had player clearance, "Who are you playing with?" "No-one," Harold replied. "Then you play A-grade with me," instructed the astonished Ekberg. And so it was, Vic became Coles' first hockey coach in the Pirates A-grade.

Coles remained with the Pirates for 6 seasons until 1965, under coaches Vic Ekberg and Ivo Vesely, then the Blackhawks from 1965 until around 1976, when he completed an 18-year playing career. He captained the Blackhawks working with coach Stan Gray in his last 2 seasons at the Club, then retired due to business commitments. He was captain when the young Gary Croft started with the club after junior hockey with the St Moritz Peewees. Coles says he was very lucky to have been coached by Ekberg, Vesely and Gray, all very good and different coaches.

Johnny Nicholas, who played with the Monarchs, accompanied Coles on his first experience in the Goodal Cup in NSW, where he met Charlie Grandy, Elgin Luke, Phil Hall and John Stewart from the NSW team. He represented Victoria in about 8 Goodall Cups. The most memorable was around 1969, in NSW when a Swedish player for New South Wales through his stick over Coles' stick to stop him passing through toward the goals. The attempted check left a gash to the head requiring 8 stitches. The next season most players wore helmets.

Acknowledged as one of the fastest skaters of his time, he was regularly warned by goalies, "Don't you bloody run into me". In fact, an American race horse provided inspiration for his moniker, Seabiscuit, a name given to him on a road trip by car to Sydney in the 1960s. Johnny Nicholas coined the likeness because he was "as fast as a racehorse, and ate as much". Coles won the coveted Goodall Cup in 1965 and 1967, both coached by Rus Jones.

A motor mechanic when he started hockey, he left school at 15, finished his apprenticeship, and enrolled at night school. Thirteen years later, in the mid -70s, he qualified as an engineer. He opened an engineering office, worked in Sydney, briefly, as he had no wish to play ice hockey against Victoria. He was promoted to the head the Jaybee Engineering office in the mid-70s, and was part of the first delegation to China advising on animal food production plants in 1981.

Harold also engineered procees plant and equipment for Arnott's biscuits, CUB Breweries, Malting plants and many other notable projects. He was involved in the research and development programs for fish farming on a worldwide basis, including the prawn farming industry.

He represented Australia in the 1964 Winter Olympics playoffs in Tokyo, Japan. All but eclipsed by the first Olympic squad in 1960, the members of Australia's second Olympic ice hockey squad are nonetheless genuine Olympians, endorsed by the OIC and the IIHF. Coles still has his collection of memorabilia from Japan, including his official Australian Olympic blazer and posters advertising the Olympic playoff matches.