Parrott, Peter Gordon

BORN MAY 27TH 1936 in Great Britain, the son of Peter Henry Marcus and Lilian May, and the brother of Anthony, Parrott's father was an engineer [2] born in Wellington Banks, Dublin Ireland, on September 9th, 1904. In 1947, the family applied for permission to remain in Australia after his father was discharged from the RAF. [61] Peter was 11 and lived in Melbourne's south-east at 311 Bluff Road, Sandringham. [2]

He began hockey that year as a schoolboy with Russ Carson's Monarchs and gained match experience in the reserve-grade the next year. [5] Learning rapidly under Carson's tutelage, he gained 14 pounds in weight in six weeks working with a physio to build strength and stamina. [1] In 1951, he showed "brilliant form" and was one of the first chosen for the Monarchs A-grade seniors. He went on to play over 100 games in the Victorian league between 1951 and 1961. [1]

The core of the 1960 Olympians skated for Carson's Club in the Fifties, including Captain of Australia, Benny Acton, Ivo Vesely, Bas Hansen, Johnny Nicholas, Ed Mustar and Coach of Australia, Bud McEachern. In the 7 seasons between 1955 and '61, Parrott scored 31 goals 18 assists, an average of 0.55 points per game from 89 games. [2] He represented Victoria at 16 in the first interstate series against Tasmania in 1952, but never won a Goodall Cup.

He played Centre in 4 games for Australia in the 1960 Olympic Games at Squaw Valley in California, USA. He played 3 games for a score of 2 goals 2 assists in 1962 World Championship team that recorded Australia's historic first international win. [1]

He was also a member of the 1964 Olympic qualification team, one of the rare few to have been involved with all three of Australia's first international campaigns with Carson. The two qualification games took place in Tokyo on Nov 23rd, Japan winning the first, 17-1. The Australian goal was scored by Ken Wellman. [1, 4] Then on the 26th, Australia was defeated 17-6, the goals scored by Phil Hall 3, Noel Derrick, Ed Mustar, and Tim Spencer. [1, 4]

Peter became an engineer like his father. [2] A Life Member of the national association in 2000, he was also a member of the Melbourne Collegians Water Polo Club with John Nicholas and Russ Carson. [44]