Vesely, Ivo Bohumil

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.