Wall of Fame
2022 Wall of Fame
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Peter attended College Street Primary School, Caversham Primary School and Macandrew Intermediate before attending King’s High School. When his parents moved to Belleknowes, Peter was faced with the dilemma of which High School to attend—King’s or Otago Boys’. He was adamant that he wanted to go to King’s, and so he did. Peter has remained a proud Kingsman ever since, and although a long-time resident in Auckland, Dunedin is never far from his mind. Peter’s feat in establishing a record for the 200m (a blistering time of 23.26 sec) in 1960 is part of King’s folklore. Of note, fellow “Wall of Famer” Erik Olssen ran second in the race. Th e record stood until 2015 when it was fi nally broken by Rory O’Neill. Peter promptly rang Rory to congratulate him on breaking the record. On leaving school, Peter embarked on his career in sports broadcasting through the infl uence of fellow Kingsman Bill McCarthy, who was already established in the profession. Peter was side line comments man, and Bill the main match commentator for the fi rst live TV Rugby test match—the New Zealand v Australia game in 1972. Peter Montgomery 1956–1960—Sport NOVEMBER 2022 Courtesy ODT 2 Kingsmen Newsletter There was a void in yachting commentary at the time, and Pete stepped into that, while maintaining his involvement with other sports. Although best known for his television yachting commentary, he is respected amongst his fellow journalists as a true professional, covering sports as diverse as rugby, rowing, and swimming, on both television and radio. His career has taken him to all parts of the globe covering, 2 Commonwealth games, 13 Americas Cup racing, 13 Whitbread-Volvo around the world racing competitions and 10 Olympic games. His career took off in the mid-1980’s when New Zealand became competitive, and then dominant, in the Americas Cup. Rightfully crowned as “The Voice of the America’s cup” his commentary has allowed everyday New Zealanders to understand the Americas cup, the people involved, the tactics employed and the crew functions. His commentating expertise, and the technological improvements in presenting the racing on television, has elevated Americas Cup racing to the top of Kiwi sporting interests. Pete’s commentary in the ensuing 40 years of Americas Cup racing has become part of the fabric of New Zealand and no doubt the international yacht racing world. His “The America’s Cup, is now, New Zealand Cup” is immortal! Every Kiwi of a certain generation knows exactly what he was talking about and its context. Peter has been heavily involved in a number of charitable organisations over the years including the Prostate Cancer Foundation, and the Blind Sailing New Zealand organisation. Peter’s contribution has been recognised with numerous broadcasting awards, being awarded an MBE (Member of the British Empire) in the Queens Birthdays Honours List of 1995, and his admission to the Americas Cup Wall of Fame in 2021
Ross Black 1961–1965—Business
Ross enjoyed his five years at King’s and was appointed as a prefect during his final year, before leaving school to pursue a business career. Four years later, while maintaining his full[1]time employment, he enrolled at the University of Otago to study commerce part-time. He graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce in Marketing in 1975. His business career may conveniently be described as one of two halves. He spent the first twenty-five years initially gaining sales and manufacturing experience. In 1977, Ross co-founded Sunshine Leisure Products which manufactured and marketed camping and outdoor leisure products across New Zealand and Australia. As Sunshine expanded, it acquired the business of The Great Outdoors Coy, Hallmark and Fairy Down. Sunshine was subsequently sold to Dunedin public company, Donaghys Ltd, in 1990 During the second twenty-four years, Ross pursued a career as a professional company director—serving as Chairman of Farra Engineering for 26 years, a Director of Port Otago for 21 years, a Director of the Canterbury District Health Board for 5 years, Chairman of the Otago District Health Board for 3.5 years, Chairman of Timberlands West Coast for 7 years and the first non-farmer Director of the Southland Dairy Co[1]operative for 6 years and as a director of a number of other companies. In 1998, Ross founded the Otago Rescue Helicopter Trust to provide dedicated, intensive care rescue helicopter services across the lower half of the South Island and served as Founding Chairman for 22 years. He spearheaded a $3.5m funding drive to provide the emergency medical equipment in the helicopter, build the helipad on Dunedin Hospital and establish the service. During his chairmanship the Otago Rescue Helicopter transported more than 9500 patients involved in workplace, sporting and vehicle accidents, sea or land rescues, and transfers between hospitals. He was instrumental in obtaining a significant amount of donated professional services which support the day-to-day operations of the service as well as innovating equipment upgrades such as night-vision goggles, advanced navigation and GPS routes that enabled safer missions in inclement conditions. The Otago Rescue Helicopter service now operates a fleet of four dedicated machines. Ross says that it has been a privilege to have been involved with such a service and particularly with such incredibly dedicated pilots and paramedics who provide a 24/7 service at all times of the year. He was also Trustee and Chairman of the Healthcare Otago Charitable Trust from 1999–2014, overseeing an investment policy that built the Trust’s funds to more than $17 million whilst gifting $10 million for equipment, training, research, and community projects. Ross was awarded an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) for Services to Health in the Queen’s Birthday Honour’s List of 2021. Ross claims that the honour is not merely in recognition of his own efforts but is also for the efforts of other long-serving trustees and ultimately for the Trust itself. In recognition of his services to the business community, Ross was elected a Fellow of the NZ Institute of Directors and Fellow of the NZ Institute of Management. He is now retired and living in Wanaka
Ken Graham 1950–1955—Humanities
Ken grew up on an 80-acre North Taieri farm, where his father produced potatoes, grain crops and sheep and cattle livestock. He attended the nearby two teacher Wylies Crossing Primary School which had a roll of some 50 pupils. He was a member of a class of five with a wonderful teacher who had high aspirations for them all. In 1950 he was duly enrolled in Form 3L at King’s High School—the top academic class. Getting to King’s required Ken to leave home by 7.50am, cycle the 5km to Mosgiel Railway Station, catch the commuter train to Dunedin and walk nearly the length of Surrey Street from the Caversham Railway Station and across Tonga Park to school. During the following decade, Ken, his younger brother Fred and two first cousins each attended King’s. During this time his eldest sister married a former King’s pupil and through their Finnie children and Finnie and Howie grandchildren, the Graham family has maintained a more than 60-year association with the school. While at King’s Ken was a cornetist in the school’s brass band each year. In 1954 he won the cup for the best sergeant in the school’s A Company cadet corps and in 1955 was appointed Head Prefect and RSM (Regimental Sergeant-Major) of the school’s cadet corps. Ken moved on to the University of Otago, where he studied for his Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery, graduating in 1962. From then until 1967 he served as a registrar in both Nelson and Dunedin, before heading north to become a cardio-thoracic registrar at Green Lane Hospital in Auckland, where being left-handed in surgeries designed to cater for the great majority of right-handed surgeons, caused him a few difficulties. In 1970 Ken was awarded an American Public Health Fellowship and he and his young family moved to Portland, Oregon for Ken to work under the well-known surgeon Albert Starr for 18 months. He returned to Green Lane in 1972 as a Consultant Cardiac Surgeon. Ken rose steadily in responsibility through the years and in December 1987 led the surgical team which performed the first New Zealand heart transplant. Typically modest in his achievements, he admitted privately that technically replacing an unhealthy heart with a healthy transplant was no bigger deal than replacing a car engine; it was surgery with an unhealthy heart that was much more problematic. Ken retired as a heart surgeon in 2005 and he returned to his family’s farming roots when he and his wife Patricia purchased a one-hundred-acre property on the Bombay hills on which to run cattle and some sheep. On about 5 acres of sun[1]facing slopes they planted grapes of Italian varieties and they marketed the wine under the Hitchen Road label. Ken also resumed his cycling and after the pruning of their boutique vineyard had been completed and arrangements made to feed cattle, they headed to Europe where they toured extensively by cycling, notably an epic ride from London to Rome. They also cycled in the UK, France, and the Iberian Peninsula. The relentless spread of Auckland into rural areas has meant they sold their property to a developer and retired to a rural area above Pokeno, although they still own a small property some 15km distant on which they run cattle
Brendon McCullum 1995–1999—Sport
Brendon played 1st XI Cricket and 1st XV Rugby. He was awarded the Salter Trophy in 1999 as our top sportsman. In 1999 he was also Joint Head Prefect, showing the extent of his leadership qualities. Brendon attended King’s as did his brother Nathan and father Stu, having come from St Clair Primary School and Macandrew Intermediate. He grew up on nearby Waterloo Street. The McCullum and Rutherford families form an incredibly strong part of the cricketing tradition at King’s and have made massive contributions to King’s, Otago and New Zealand cricket. That tradition reinforced the foundations laid by other cricketing Kingsmen such as Warren Lees, Warren Shirley, and Ross Murray. Stu McCullum played first class cricket for Otago and Nathan McCullum played with distinction for both Otago and New Zealand. Brendon’s sporting abilities were evident from a young age. He represented the First XI Cricket team from 1996 to 1999 under the tutelage of John Cushen (Deputy Rector and father of current staff member Simon Cushen). Furthermore, as a gifted rugby player, Brendon had the distinction of relegating future All Black Dan Carter to the reserves bench – when selected in the South Island Secondary School rugby team in 2000 ahead of Carter. There is simply not room to give a fitting summary of his career here, but it is no exaggeration to say that Brendon went on to become one of New Zealand’s finest cricketers (first as a keeper/batsman, then as a batsman in his own right) in all formats of the game. Brendon’s career was not without controversy. Brendon stood up for the values for cricket in a match fixing allegation involving international players, from 2011 to 2013. Brendon faced these challenges with a straight bat and soon silenced his critics with his deed on the field. He was promoted to the Black Caps Captaincy by coach Mike Hesson in 2012 and took over from Ross Taylor. The New Zealand Team enjoyed considerable success under the McCullum-Hesson era, and it laid the foundation for the recent successes under Kane Williamson and Gary Stead. Brendon’s most notable cricketing achievements for New Zealand include: • He became the first New Zealander to score a triple hundred in a Test—302 runs against India on 18 February 2014 • In 2014, he became the first New Zealander to score 1000 test runs in a calendar year (1164). (The record was bettered by Kane Williamson with 1172 runs in 2015). • He was awarded the Sir Richard Hadlee Medal for his performances in the 2014-2015 season • Brendon was awarded an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) for Services to Cricket in the 2015 Queen’s Birthday Honours list • He won the New Zealand Sportsman of The Year Award in 2014, and then the Sport New Zealand Leadership Award in 2016 • In his last Test outing on 20 February 2016, McCullum posted the fastest ever Test century, in 54 balls, (beating the 56-ball record previously held by Vivian Richards of the West Indies), scoring a total of 145 off 79 balls. • In June 2016, just a few months after his retirement from international cricket, Brendon was honoured with an invitation to deliver the prestigious MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture. He became only the second New Zealand player ever to be invited to deliver the Cowdrey lecture, the other being the late Martin Crowe. Brendon went on to become a much sought-after commentator and has made a rapid rise with coaching. His recent promotion to the England head coaching role in May 2022 has yielded instant results (to the detriment of New Zealand) and a change of approach by the England team that would have taken many cricketing traditionalists by surprise. Throughout his cricketing success, Brendon has never lost sight of his roots and continues to sponsor the King’s Year 9 Cricket Sporting Scholarship. When, on scoring his triple century in 2014 he was asked by the commentator for some illuminating thoughts and inner[1]most feelings about the feat, he answered simply “No mate, I’m a bogan from South D”. When back in New Zealand Brendon resides in Matamata where he can more easily pursue his horse racing interests
Anthony Simpson 1988–1992—Humanities
Anthony Simpson had a distinguished career at King’s High School and was particularly strong in the academic, debating and performing arts areas. He won the coveted Bremner Scholarship for Academic Excellence, and was awarded a blue for Drama, having had the lead roles in Oliver and The Pirates of Penzance. In his final year at school Anthony was a School Prefect, School Dux, winner of the English, History, Classical Studies and Art History prizes, the school representative in the mini–United Nations Assembly, the school council secretary and a member of the workday committee, the formal committee, and the common room committee. On leaving King’s Anthony spent from 1993 to 1998 studying at the University of Otago. He graduated in 1999 with a Bachelor of Arts with Double Honours Degrees in English and Political Studies. He continued his study from 2008 to 2009 when he completed an Executive Master of Public Administration degree with the School of Government at Victoria University. He joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in 2000 and has remained there since, in a variety of roles in the areas of trade and economic policy, international security, regional integration, and multilateral diplomacy. These include: • Policy Officer in the United Nations and Commonwealth Division. • Second Secretary (Trade) at NZ Embassy in Tokyo (including two years Japanese language training). • Senior Policy Officer, Economic Division, covering APEC issues. • First Secretary, NZ Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York, with a particular focus on NZ’s campaign for a seat on the UN Security Council. • From 2015 he spent two years leading the New Zealand’s capital-based team coordinating New Zealand’s policies and positions during its term as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council. • He then spent two years as the deputy head of the Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade responsible for New Zealand’s relations with Europe, contributing to New Zealand’s response to Brexit and its lobbying for an FTA with the European Union. In May 2019 he was appointed as New Zealand’s Ambassador to the Italian Republic, which also involves service as the non[1]resident Ambassador to Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Montenegro, North Macedonia, San Marino, and Serbia. He is also the Permanent Representative to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the World Food Programme (WFP), and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
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