Gray, Stanley George

HE WAS A LONG-SERVING COACH and administrator with the Blackhawks ice hockey club in Victoria. Known for the hard line he took with young players, he never played the game himself but he commanded great respect as an accomplished coach, team manager and administrator. Revered by all that knew him, he coached the 'Hawks into the sixties, winning premierships in 1963 and 1969, and coached Victoria to the 1962 Goodall Cup championship. He was the General Manager of the Australian National Men's Team at the 1979 World Championships in Barcelona, the nation's fifth international adventure.

His weekly column in the Sporting Globe and his news items in the Herald became ice hockey's most authoritative writings, helping the Australian game to rise to its all-time peak in popularity in the fifties. He believed that imported overseas champions would make the game as prominent a sport as in Europe, and he was responsible for the engagement of several leading Czech players, including Jaroslav Drobny and Jan Kurzweil. Drobny, the former Czech Davis Cup tennis player, agreed to appear with the Blackhawks after his return from Wimbledon in 1950. Kurzweil migrated to Australia permanently and became a captain of the Raiders ice hockey club.

He held office in the Victorian association for 13 years, first as senior vice president in 1960 succeeding Kurt Defris, then junior vice president between 1962 and 1964, and finally as secretary from 1971 to 1979. He was also president of the national association from 1966. A Life Member of the Blackhawks and the Victorian association, the Club's Rookie of the Year perpetual trophy is named in his honour.