1960-1969 Halberg Award Winners

1960 & 1964 Peter Snell (1960s Decade Champion, Sports Champion of the Century)

If a public opinion poll was taken in the 60s with the question, "Who was New Zealand’s greatest athlete?" Peter Snell would have been the unquestioning answer by most New Zealanders. It wasn’t so much that he won the 800 metres at the Olympic Games in Rome in 1960, then defended his title in Tokyo in 1964 while also winning the 1500 metres, it was the manner in which he ran and won. When Snell set himself for a race, he was dominant, almost unbeatable and sometimes, as in the 1500 metres final in Tokyo, utterly majestic. Snell also set world records for the mile in Wanganui in January 1962 and a week later in Christchurch, for the 800 metres and 880 yards. He also held for a time the world 1000 metres record and was a member of the New Zealand quartet that broke the world four by one mile relay record. If there was a regret about Snell’s career, it was that perhaps neither he nor the rest of the world saw how much greater he could have been.

1965 Wilson Whineray

When discussions occur, as they do, about who were the best All Black captains, the name of Wilson Whineray is always on the tip of tongues. Maybe it was because he led the All Blacks in 30 of the 32 internationals he played, maybe it was because of his presence as a natural leader, maybe it was because of the speeches he delivered, or any number of other reasons. But few would dispute Whineray’s status as an uncommonly fine leader of men. He led the All Blacks to victory over the Lions in 1959, on their tour of South Africa in 1960, of the British Isles and France in 1963-64 and to victory over South Africa in 1965. Seldom has a player and a captain received the acclaim that Whineray has, either in New Zealand or wherever rugby is played. In later years, he has acquired success in business while in sports administration has fulfilled a variety of functions, including the chairmanship of the Hillary Commission, for these he was knighted in 1998.

1966 Roy Williams

Roy Williams in an already lengthy athletics career was better known as the brother of the 1952 Olympic gold medalist, Yvette - until 1966 when Williams carved a place of his own in the hall of New Zealand sporting memories. Passed over for selection for previous Empire and Olympic Games, sometimes cruelly, Williams finally got his chance at the Empire and Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Jamaica. He stamped his authority, showed his astonishing dogged determination and competitive temperament in the most gruelling of events, the decathlon. For the 10 events over two long days, Williams set about showing he was the best in the Commonwealth, achieving his aim in the final event, the 1500 metres, in a gathering twilight.

1967 Denny Hulme

Denny Hulme was born to race and through his life of 56 years, he did - almost anything: cars big and small from road races in New Zealand to Indianapolis and Le Mans, even big rig trucks. But it was the high -powered, dangerous world of Formula One racing in which Hulme made his greatest mark, becoming in 1967 the first New Zealander - and still the only - to win the world Formula One drivers championship. Hulme and his teammate and senior driver, Jack Brabham, fought out the season of 11 races between them. Hulme won in Monaco and Brabham the French Grand Prix, then Hulme won in Germany and Brabham in Canada. Going into the last race, in Mexico, he was leader on points and needed to finish in the first three to be world champion. He finished third. In all, Hulme started in 112 grand prix and won eight. He also won at Le Mans and Indianapolis and won the CanAm series in North America. He continued to drive competitively into middle age and died as he had lived, suffering a fatal heart attack at the wheel of a car racing on the Mount Panorama circuit in Australia in 1992.

1968 Mike Ryan

1969 Chris Bouzaid

Seldom before in New Zealand had a yacht race, or a series of yacht races, captured the public attention of New Zealanders as much as the win by Chris Bouzaid in Rainbow II in the One Ton Cup in the cold, choppy waters of the North Sea. With hindsight, the win over the German Optimist in four successive races marked a new and exciting, and continuing, era for New Zealand yachting and yachties. Bouzaid’s win was immaculately and thoroughly planned, preceded by wins in the Sydney-Hobart and the Whangarei-Noumea races. Bouzaid lost to the Germans at his first attempt off Heligoland, went home and worked harder on his boat, then returned and sailed into yachting history.