By BEN CAMERON AND ANEEKA SIMONIS
MORE than 50 years on, Berwick Olympian Bob Lay’s memories of his golden sporting years remain vivid as ever. Then again, it’s not every day you turn 18 while representing your country in your chosen sport.
It was the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Perth and Lay was a budding track and field star, reaching the semi-finals in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay.
“It was unbelievable just to be there,” he said.
“Even though I’d only been in the sport for two years.”
It was just a warm up stretch of bigger things to come however, with his first international trip at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, coming two years later.
“Walking out in front of about 100,000 people at the stadium, it was electrifying,” he said.
“That kind of memory never leaves you.
“It was just awesome to be there, to be up against the best in the world.”
While he thought he was “a bit stiff” coming up against the eventual winner in the 100m, American Bob Hayes, he ran his best time, coming fifth in the semi-final.
“I hoped they’d mixed our names up, with me being Bob Lay and him being Bob Hayes,” he joked.
“But he was a big guy, twice as big as me… and he was black and I was white… he smashed the world record.”
Post retirement, the multi-talented Lay also played first grade rugby for three seasons with Sydney Randwick Club, winning a premiership, and represented New South Wales on two occasions.
While Lay returned to the 2000 Olympics and the 2006 Commonwealth Games as a torch bearer and volunteer assistant, it’s off the track that he made arguably his biggest contribution.
Lay was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in this Year’s Australia Day honours for “significant service to sports administration and athletics in Victoria through a range of executive positions, and to the community”.
Meanwhile a Berwick educator was also awarded a Public Service Medal on Australia Day for his outstanding support for disadvantaged youth.
Peter Greenwell, who has championed educational opportunities for Indigenous young people as well as fostered a culture of inclusiveness in schools and kindergartens, said he was honoured to receive the Australia Day award after decades in the educational sector.
“It’s a very humbling experience to receive an award such as this. So many people do work which deserves to be acknowledged and in education nothing is achieved without the support of others,” Mr Greenwell said.
