Barry McLean after receiving the Queen's Service Medal in 2013 for 65 years of service to surf lifesaving. He died peacefully on Sunday, aged 91. Photo / Paul Rickard
Barry McLean after receiving the Queen's Service Medal in 2013 for 65 years of service to surf lifesaving. He died peacefully on Sunday, aged 91. Photo / Paul Rickard
A Gisborne man widely regarded as one of New Zealand’s finest surf lifesavers, Barry McLean, has died.
A surf lifesaving competitor, coach, instructor, administrator and judge, Barry died peacefully with family by his side on Sunday at the age of 91.
He received the Queen’s Service Medal in2013 for 65 years of service to the movement.
“I’m chuffed to have been honoured in this way, but I am only one of many people who have been involved in surf lifesaving for a long period of time,” a typically modest Barry told TheGisborne Herald at the time. “I am older than most of them – that’s all.”
Barry McLean (front right) was a founding member of Waikanae Surf Life Saving Club and a member of many national champion rescue and resuscitation teams from the club. Photo / Gisborne Photo News
The pharmacist operated McLean’s Pharmacy in Elgin for many years and was a founding member of Waikanae Surf Life Saving Club.
As a competitor, he won 19 New Zealand titles as an individual and in rescue and resuscitation (R&R) events until he retired from competition in the 1970s. He also represented New Zealand in the sport.
Barry McLean during his heyday in a rescue and resuscitation event. Photo / Gisborne Photo News
After his retirement from competition, Barry was a much-respected surf lifesaving judge for more than 30 years.
He was widely regarded as one of the country’s greatest surf swimmers, completing many surf rescues in his career – notably a mass rescue in 1953 when he helped save nine people.
In 1960, he saved three men in the dark along Centennial Marine Drive after their boat overturned.
“I have never had a swimming lesson in my life,” he told The Gisborne Herald previously. “We used to just swim out and catch waves in the summer, and that’s where I developed my surf swimming ability.”
Barry McLean (foreground), pictured competing in a belt race, is widely regarded as one of New Zealand's greatest surf swimmers. Photo / Gisborne Photo News
He always loved being around the sea, he said.
“That love affair started when I was a boy when my family lived at Eastbourne in Wellington, right next to the sea.”
It continued when his family moved to Gisborne when he was 13.
“My family lived at Waikanae Beach in a tent in the first summer we came to Gisborne and I got to know some guys my age from the Gisborne Amateur Surf and Swimming Club.
“Reg Thompson took us under his wing and together with the late Ken Morse got us involved in surf lifesaving.”
Over the years, he was a representative of the Royal Life Saving Society and marine search and rescue, and served on the New Zealand surf lifesaving council and judiciary committee.
Barry McLean was named the inaugural Gisborne Sportsman of the Year winner in 1969. Photo / Gisborne Photo News
Barry was the inaugural Gisborne Sportsman of the Year in 1969 and was a life member of the Kaiaponi Farms Waikanae Club and Surf Life Saving New Zealand.
He was inducted into the Tairāwhiti Legends of Sport Hall of Fame in 2012.
