Rower and basketballer join hall of fame

WORLD TRAVELLED: Clarrie Healey represented his country in war and peace.PHOTOS/SUPPLIED

Clarrie Healey

Wanganui rowing is rich in history, providing some of the country's finest competitors for well over a century, and one of them - the late Clarrie Healey - was last night inducted as the fifth rower into the Wanganui Sports Hall of Fame.

He was selected as either competitor or coach to four Olympic and one Commonwealth Games over a period of 30 years, between 1928 and 1958, rowed in eight Union Boat Club national champion crews between 1920 and 1938 (the last at the age of 44), coached Union to win eight NZ titles over a 25-year period between 1937 and 1962, and was Union club captain for 35 years (1931-66) during a 76-year association with the club.

Healey, born in Sanson in 1895, joined Union as a 16-year-old, and apart from war service, during which time he claimed international rowing honours in Europe, remained a member of the club until his death in 1987.

It was in England and France in 1918-19, during the war years, when a New Zealand Army eight lost only once in armed forces racing, that Healey claimed world media headlines by stroking the Kiwi crew to a famous victory over a powerful USA Expeditionary Forces crew selected from two million American soldiers fighting in the war.

The international rowing regatta, held in Paris early in 1919 on the River Seine, was watched by an excited crowd estimated to be as high as 100,000 including world dignitaries in France for a Peace Conference and the signing of the Armistice to mark the end of the world war.

Healey went to war in 1916, was wounded in the trenches in France and was sent to England to recover.

Part of the recovery process was exercise and at age 24 he stroked NZ Army eights to victory in English regattas.

Then came the famous Allied Victory Eights race in Paris and he stroked fellow Union oarsmen Bill Coombes (No4 seat) and bowman George Wilson, plus coxswain Arthur Trussell, to a thrilling victory over America and France. After the war, Healey stroked Union to NZ titles in the pairs (1920-22) and fours (1920-23, 1928) and he was also in the 1938 winning eight-oar crew. His national titles as a coach were in 1937-39, 1959-62 with eight-oar crews and in 1958 (fours).

A fanatic for fitness - he helped develop New Zealand's first rowing ergometer which was based at Union and used for many years as part of the selection process for national crews - Healey was chosen in the NZ eight for the 1928 Amsterdam Olympic Games but there were not sufficient funds for the crew to travel. He had stroked the first ever NZ eight to victory in Australia three years earlier.

As a coach, he took the NZ eight to the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics and four-oar crew to the 1952 Helsinki and 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games, 22 years after stroking a Union eight at the 1934 Centennial Regatta in Melbourne.

He also coached Union, representing New Zealand, in the fours at the 1958 Cardiff Commonwealth Games.

There was success for Healey at college level, guiding Wanganui Technical College crews to back to back Maadi Cup eight-oar national titles in 1949-50 during his time as the school's rowing coach between 1941 and 1953.

He was heavily involved with the NZ Amateur Rowing Association, serving seven years as a national selector and being elected a life member of the national body to go with similar honours from the Wanganui Union club and the Wanganui association. Healey represented Wanganui at rugby five times between 1924 and 1926, while playing for the Pirates club.

He was awarded an MBE for his services to rowing and died in Wanganui in 1987 at the age of 92.

Megan Compain

Double Olympian and New Zealand's first American professional basketball player, Megan Compain last night became the fourth individual woman to be inducted into the Wanganui Sports Hall of Fame.

Compain, born in Wanganui in 1975, represented New Zealand in basketball at the 2000 Sydney and 2004 Athens Olympic Games. Sydney was the first time this country qualified for indoor basketball at the Olympics.

The highly talented Wanganui High School-educated basketballer made history in 1997 when she became the first New Zealand player to secure a contract to play professional basketball in the United States, signing a contract to play for the Utah Starzz in the inaugural WNBA championship.

At the age of 21 she was also the youngest woman to play professional basketball.

Compain helped Philadelphia-based St Joseph's Hawks qualify for the 1994-95-97 NCAA tournaments during her four years at university, was thrice a first team all-Big Time and all-time Atlanta selection.

When she signed for Utah Jazz she was joint holder of the NCAA All Time Single Games 3-point shooting record (7/7 against Rhode Island in 1997).

While playing for SJU, Compain was twice named Atlanta 10 Player of the Week, won selection in the All-Atlanta 10 Team in her senior year, was the 1997 Big Five Player of the Year and was named in the Big Five Hall of Fame after leading SJU to victory in the Atlanta Top 10 championship. She was playing alongside Russian superstar Elena Baranova with the Utah Jazz.

Her skills as a very accurate shooting guard led to contracts to play professional basketball in Germany (for Wurzburg in the first division Bundesliga), in Finland (for Lahti in the Finnish national league) as well as in Wales.

During her years at Wanganui High School, before being selected at the age of 16 for an exchange student scholarship at Middle Township High School (roll of more than 850 students) in New Jersey, Compain was a very skilled young Wanganui representative basketballer.

After the Athens Olympics she was appointed Adidas Basketball global manager for Europe, being based in Nuremburg (2005-07) and Amsterdam (2007-09) before returning to New Zealand to be married and join the New Zealand Rugby Union as marketing and relationship sponsorship manager.