"It was so convincing we pulled the ball out of the box. The organisers growled us for wrecking their gear ... we used a sledge hammer and an axe to knock it back together," Hollyman said.
"You can imagine the reputation the Yates brothers had back then. After beating them, we went on to win the comp with a win against Huntly in the final," Schroder recalled.
The only New Zealand competitor to have three North Island, three South Island and three national titles in all three weight divisions, light, middle and heavy, Schroder, who has competed in the sport for 54 years, pointed out the foundation for that Otahuhu feat was laid four years earlier when all of the team, apart from Greene, won the national lightweight title in Balclutha competing as the Watties No2 Farm team. Ray McKain was the other member of the team that year.
"Marchwiel of Timaru hadn't been beaten for five years. You could hear the hall get quieter and quieter as we gradually got the better of them and went on to beat them," McCabe, the father of Hawke's Bay superstock driver Andy McCabe, explained.
"We proved, if everyone put in the same amount of work, you could get the desired result in the end," Schroder said.
"Marchwiel had beaten all the heavyweight teams they took on. They thought there would never be a lightweight team to beat them," he recalled.
Hollyman made weights out of concrete for the team to train with. They also carried sacks of shingle as part of their training routine.
"We knew we must have been doing things right because people would tell us how strong our handshakes were," Albert Schroder remarked.
He stopped competing in 1984 after 23 years. Among his successes were 23 national titles.
For the past 10 years, Albert has been a cyclist. The aerobic base from tug o' war has served him well during 10 Lake Taupo Cycle challenges and a nine-hour-ride from Tutira to Gisborne.
McCabe retired in 1982 with several North and South Island, as well as national, titles across all three divisions on his CV. He was the only Hawke's Bay competitor to be selected for an exhibition event staged during the 1974 Commonwealth Games in Christchurch.
Holloway had a similar CV to McCabe when he also called it quits in 1982.
"Duckshooting and whitebaiting keep me busy these days," he said.
Greene competed for eight years in the middleweight and heavyweight divisions.
"I still go and watch but, when it comes to competitive sport, I'm a couch potato," Greene said.
The elder Schroder still competes for the Western Suburbs club. He invited fellow competitor Jordan James to the reunion too.
"I wanted to make sure the traditions involved in our sport aren't forgotten," he said, as the old timers shuffled towards a training board for some more reminiscing.
