Clifford Simpson
Clifford Simpson – Athlete
“The Crack of the Starters Pistol” – The Early Years
Clifford Simpson was born in Temuka on 20th August 1928 and moved to Dunedin in 1942, just prior to starting at Kings High School. His previous schooling was at the Milford School near Temuka.
His parents were dairy farmers in South Canterbury. His father was unwell and had to sell the farm. They had family in Dunedin and the Simpsons moved there. Both parents were sporty and involved in the kids sporting activities.
Cliff had 4 brothers. He was the second youngest. Only Cliff and his youngest brother (Ian) went to Kings.
They lived in Hargest Crescent – very handy to the school.
Kings High School
Cliff attended Kings High School from 1942 until 1945.
At school, Cliff excelled at Athletics and Rugby.
Cliff was quick. Very quick. He played fullback or centre for the First XV and won a number of athletics titles while at school.
He was the intermediate school athletics champ in 1944 and was the (intermediate) record holder of the 440yd, the 880yd, The Broad (Long) Jump and the High Jump by the time he left school. His intermediate times were faster than the senior times that year.
Cliff won the school cross country in 1944.
Kings had a very good First XV in 1945 and were joint winners of the competition – Cliff was captain that year.
Cliff recalled one game (in 1944) where they were beaten 33-4 by Southland Boys in Invercargill. Cliff dropped a goal to score the only points for Kings.
On leaving school in 1945, Cliff was acknowledged in the school magazine as being one of the best athletics to have come out of Kings. That would also explain why he did not feature athletics records that year as they were held in October 1945 after he had left school.
Cliff has fond memories of his time at Kings – particularly the camaraderie of his team mates and the followship of his friends.
Cliff says that their intermediate athletics team at the time (1944) was very good and “cleaned up everything”.
Cliff enjoyed his school but declined to comment on his academic prowess there. While his sporting accomplishments are well documented in the school magazines.
Rugby
Cliff represented the “Toko” Club in Milton at Rugby after leaving school – having shifted there for his job as a stock and station agent for the N.Z Loan and Mercantile Company – (or as Cliff put is with a laugh “The N.Z Loan and Make a Pile Company”)
He went on to be the sole agent at Clinton for a couple of years before transferring north.
Cliff represented the South Otago sub-union and Otago (“4 or 5 games”) at Rugby.
He also represented Manawatu at Rugby for a few games when he subsequently moved up there.
Athletics.
But it was in athletics where Cliff really made his mark.
His favourite athletic events were the middle-distance events – the 440 yards, the 880 yards and the mile. Remember – this was pre-metric days!
Cliff was a member of the St Kilda Harrier and Amateur Athletic Club. It evolved into Ariki under the guidance of Harold TYRIE. Harold was very much looked up to by the athletes – he was a returned serviceman from WWII. He was wounded in the war, and had a limp as a result.
Fellow Kingsman, Ron CAIN, ran for Caversham and was a contemporary of Cliff’s. Cliff knew of Ron at school, but got to know him well as their athletics careers continued beyond the school gates.
“The ‘Kick’ on the Corner” – Cliff’s Athletics’ Career takes off.
Cliff made his “big break” in Athletics in 1949, and tells the story thus:
“I had competed in a meet in Dunedin and had gone OK.
I was then invited to compete in a meet in Invercargill. The Australian 440yd champ was competing there. There was a cold southerly blowing and I thought that if I went early, I might catch the Australian guy out.
I “went” with 150yds to go and went on to win the race.
A few days later, there was another meet in Dunedin where the Australian was again competing.
This time the Aussie went early – 220yds out – he got the jump on me, but I managed to get him on the line.”
Cliff had beaten the Australian title holder in consecutive events.
After winning national age group titles in the 880 yards, he was the National Champ for that distance in 1950 and was selected for New Zealand for the Empire Games (the forerunner of the Commonwealth games) which were held in Auckland that year.
He ran in the 880 yards (finishing 6th in the final) and the mile. He was the NZ national champ for the 880 yards in 1950.
Fellow Dunedin girl (and future Olympic Gold medalist) Yvette WILLIAMS was in the same team.
Of interest, fellow Kingsman Stewart Melville, held the equivalent national title – the 800 metres in 1974 and competed in the Commonwealth Games in Christchurch that year.
Cliff’s sporting career was in the times of strict amateurism, little coaching, and minimal resources. Raw talent, determination and competitiveness were the main pre-requisites to succeed in those days.
Growing up during World War 2, and in the ensuing years, money was in short supply. Athletics was a relatively inexpensive sport to be involved in. His mother would make his running singlet and shorts. Handmade running spikes from Christchurch were a luxury and a big improvement on the “off the shelf” jobs available.
No gym work, no dieticians, no sponsorship, no sports psychologists in those days. The tracks were grass.
Cliff recalls that his training involved lots of track work – this was in the years before Arthur Lydiard and Arch Jelly revolutionised the coaching methods in the 1960’s and 1970’s. To prepare for a 440yd event, Cliff would do lots of 600-yard runs, to develop stamina, and lots of 100-yard sprints to perfect the “kick” and the burst down the home straight.
To attend meets in Invercargill, the Dunedin athletes would catch the train down and take their lunch with them. If they were unlucky, they would end up on the “slow” train – it took about 10 hours to get to Invercargill, would stop at every village on the way, and would sometimes get tied up doing shunting work!
Family Life.
He met his wife, Hope NEWMAN, at a post-meet dance in Gore in and they had six children together.
They moved to the Manawatu in the 1950’s where Cliff lives to this day in Feilding. He went on to play several games for the Manawatu rugby team.
Their daughter, Lois, went on to be a double international representing New Zealand at Cricket and Hockey.
Lois’ younger brother (Ken), puts his sister’s sporting prowess down to the hours of backyard cricket played by the family.
Ken was no sporting slug either – and represented Manawatu B and Hawkes Bay B as a flanker. Cliff’s son Noel, represented Manawatu as a centre/wing.
But Cliff has endured more than his fair share of tragedy as well – his eldest daughter (Margaret) died a week after birth in 1953, his daughter Diane drowned at 11 years of age in the 1960’s, and he lost a son (Noel) early to a sudden heart attack at 34 years of age in the 1980’s.
Sadly, Hope passed away in 2008 after 56 years of marriage.
“The Home Straight”
Cliff last visited Kings in 2010 when he attended the school’s 75th anniversary, and thoroughly enjoyed it.
He is now well into his 90’s, and is fighting cancer.
He has lost none of his competitive spirit or love of sports. He is certainly in full possession of his marbles, and his sense of humour.
Cliff still plays competitive snooker at the Feilding Club, over the road from his house.
He still follows rugby and athletics closely – especially the Kings first XV. He is picking the All Blacks to win this year’s world cup – “there will only be one team in it” he adds with a chuckle.
Cliff thinks nothing of hopping on the mobility scooter and “driving” (if that’s what you do on a mobility scooter) two kilometres to watch his great grandson (Blake SIMPSON 11yrs) play schoolboy rugby.
Cliff reckons Blake will “be a good one too, he’s quicker than I ever was!”
His close friend, Shirley McCulloch, has been a big part of Cliff’s life in recent years – she describes Cliff as “a humble, caring and interesting man.”
Cliff Simpson – a proud Kingsman and a terrific athlete, from a bygone era.
Chris George
August 2023