Peter Henderson
The Whanganui Sports Hall of Fame unveiled its newest inductees last night - two generations of a proud hockey family, and one of rugby's fastest players who at one time was branded as an undesirable.
Peter Henderson (1926-2014), nicknamed 'Sammy', was rated as one of the quickest All Blacks of all time, being a New Zealand sprint champion with a 100 yard personal best of 9.7 seconds.
He joined the All Blacks on their tough 1949 tour of South Africa, while returning to play against the visiting British Isles Lions in 1950 for three tests, as well as the tour game for Wanganui at Spriggens Park.
Henderson represented New Zealand 19 times, including seven tests, and was the top try scorer in South Africa with seven tries.
Born in Gisborne, he was an All Black triallist and North Island representative in 1948, played for Hawke's Bay in 1944-45 and then moved to Whanganui, joining the Kaierau club and playing 26 times for the province between 1946 and 1950.
He scored a hat-trick of tries in a 22-8 away victory over Canterbury in 1948, played in a Ranfurly Shield challenge against Otago on the same South Island tour.
On the athletic track he won the New Zealand 100 yard title in the 1948-49 season in 10 seconds and in 1950 was in the New Zealand 4x100 yard men's relay team that finished third at the Auckland Empire Games, after placing fifth in the individual 100 yard final.
Henderson lost his job as a dental technician while on the four-month long South African tour, and so took up an offer to head to Britain and join English professional rugby league club Huddersfield in late 1950 - playing 258 times for the club over seven years and scoring 214 tries in his 633 points.
Switching to league, however, earned the 24-year-old a 38 year ban by the New Zealand Rugby Union, which lasted until 1989.
As a right-winger, Henderson helped Huddersfield beat St Helens 15-10 in front of 89,588 spectators in the 1952-53 Challenge Cup final at Wembley Stadium.
He also played for the 'Other Nationalities' side that won the 1953 test series against England, France and Wales, scoring 12 points.
Henderson joined the New Zealand Barbarians Rugby Club and was also a keen lawn bowler in his latter years in the Bay of Plenty, helping to promote an annual tournament for league and rugby players.
He attended the Wanganui v Wellington Ranfurly Shield match at Cooks Gardens in 2009 and the Wanganui Rugby Football Union's 125th jubilee in 2012.
The awards night also honoured Alan Bruce Lints (1924) and his son Alan Brodie Lints (1959).
This Whanganui-born father and son combination have represented New Zealand in men's hockey, as well as being involved in all aspects of the sport at international, national and district level.
Lints senior represented New Zealand against Australia in 1958, captained North Island Minors for three of his six years in the team and in 1951 was a NZ secondary schools' representative and a North Island Colt.
He represented Whanganui at all levels between 1954 and 1968 and has held the roles of the local body's president, vice president, secretary, selector-coach, delegate, fixtures and umpires' appointee.
Lints senior has been made a life member of the Wanganui association and the Tech COB club.
In 1977 he was awarded the NZHA Pakistan Trophy for outstanding service to the sport - the year he was convenor of the national tournament held in Whanganui.
He was a panel member of the NZHA select committee, which investigated the future of hockey in New Zealand.
As an umpire, Lints senior gained his NZA grade badge in 1960, controlling provincial games against touring international teams, as well as two national finals and a North v South fixture.
At the national level he served as NZ Hockey Umpires Association president, vice president, executive member, and was a theory and practical examiner for A grade badges, as well as umpires' director of a national tournament in Dunedin.
As well as the son who became a fellow Black Stick, daughter Gillian Rajan was in the champion Waikato national Kaye Cup team and his other son Duncan captained a winning Wellington colts' team.
Lints senior also represented Whanganui in senior cricket and is a life member and patron of the Wanganui East Bowling Club.
His son Alan Brodie Lints represented New Zealand in 1986 at the London World Cup and toured Argentina in 1987 and India in 1988.
He played for Whanganui in 1978 and 1983, and for Manawatu 80 times in 1979-82 and 1984, then 150 times for Northland between 1985 and 1997.
He was also a New Zealand Minors team representative.
Between 2001 and 2005, Lints was national director of the Welsh Hockey Union, director of the Great Britain Olympic Hockey Ltd in 2002-04.
He served as general manager of the New Zealand Hockey Federation in 2000-01, coaching and development manager of Hockey New Zealand between 1996-99 and was on the Oceania Hockey Federation in 2000 with FIH congresses in France, Egypt and Belgium.
At present, he is chairman of the Oceania Umpires and Officials Executive, chairman of Hockey Northland Umpires Executive and is on the boards of Hockey Northland and Whangarei Netball.
The wider Lints family was also heavily involved in hockey, with Ron Lints secretary of Wanganui Hockey for many years, while his wife Ivy was a life member of the association.