Harrow, Laing

BORN IN CANADA ON APRIL 3RD, 1970, he moved to Australia in 1986 when Softball Canberra retained the coaching services of his father, Bob. The next year, when he was 18 years-old, he represented Australia at the 1988 ISF Men’s Softball World Championship in Canada. He joined the Canberra Knights ice hockey team the same year and played in the ACT U21 team at the National Championships. He represented the ACT in the Goodall Cup for a decade becoming player-coach of the 1997 ACT men's team and winning the Goodall Cup with the Knights in 1998. He was captain of the Club in 1991 and 1992 and head coach in 2004 and 2005. He had represented the Canadian youth team in ice hockey before he arrived here, then represented Australia at junior level and played senior ice hockey for Australia in four World Championships — 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000.

He represented Australia in softball in 1988, 1992 and again in 1996 as captain. He hit .316 at both the 1992 and 1996 events, appearing in 22 games over 3 ISF World Championships. He played in more than a dozen additional international events in the 1990s and retired from international competition as a player after accumulating 37 caps for Australia. He won 3 senior men’s national titles for the ACT — 1998, 1990 and 1993; 1998 Best Batter; and 1993 Most Valuable Player. He was assistant coach of the under-19 Australian team that won the Jr. Men’s World Championship in 2001. In 2015 he was appointed for a 4-year term as head coach of the Aussie Steelers, the national men’s softball team.

Laing Harrow was inducted to the ACT Sport Hall of Fame (2005) and the Softball Australia Hall of Fame (2002). In 2003, the Laing Harrow Shield was named in his honour, the trophy for the Australian U23 Men’s Fastpitch Championship. That year he was also the first Australian men’s softball player to be inducted into the International Softball Federation Hall of Fame.