01/06/1939 – 24/10/24
FUNERAL DETAILS
11am, Friday, November 1st
Tobin Bros. Waverly St, Essendon
Sincere thanks to John Cooper & Max Warlow for this heartfelt & much-deserved tribute
Ian Williams first joined Essendon Amateur Athletic Club in 1955 and went on to serve the club until 2019. He was one of this Club’s most important, influential members.
Ian was both an administrator, athlete, and guiding force.
Ian was a Life member of our Club and as well as Athletics Victoria.
Ian the Administrator-
As an administrator, Ian was club President from 1977 to 1978 and again from 2001 to 2006. He also served as Secretary (1967 to 1972) and Treasurer (2007 to 2019). There can be no doubt the club’s strong financial position is due in no small way to Ian’s management.
Ian ran a tight ship as Chair; he followed the Constitution, was transparent, and ran a punctual concise committee.
As secretary Ian’s Minutes were always precise and accurate.
Ian was appointed a Director of the Athletics Vic Foundation in 2004 to 2018 and was Chair from 2005 – 2011.
He was also Secretary to the Victorian branch of the Commonwealth Games.
During his role as Chair of AE, Ian oversaw the most critical club development decisions. In 1966, Ian was behind the move from Windy Hill where the club had trained since 1920, to Montgomery Park where runners had one sandy lap around a soccer pitch and no gym. Ian’s vision was to establish an all-weather athletics track and club rooms. This initial move was risky because there was not an athletics facility in Essendon and it could be years before one was established. A subcommittee of 3 was formed comprising Ian, his brother Don (an AE life member) and Max Warlow (AE Life member) with a view to having an athletics track built in Essendon.
Ian and Don surveyed several sights before settling on the current location. Ian and Don’s work was so thorough that the MVCC engineer’s department adopted word for word their submission and presented it to Council with a recommendation to proceed ASAP. Ian left no stone unturned; he organised an event in which Ron Clarke was the guest speaker, invited the then mayor of Essendon to attend and of course Ron’s topic was the “benefit of having an all-weather athletics track”.
Indeed, Ian realised the secret to being successful was to make sure there was a demonstratable demand for an athletics facility. Our club at that point in time had around 70 members. He lobbied local schools to support the request, and in an act of sheer brilliance called a meeting at the Moonee Ponds Town Hall, which resulted in the establishment of Essendon Little Athletics, and a major increase in demand for an athletics facility.
Within two years of Ian placing his submission to MVCC the athletics facility was built! This was a remarkable short time achievement!
In the ‘70s Ian was again faced with another huge decision. That was to merge with East Melbourne Harriers (EMH). EMH was the second oldest athletics club in Victoria while Essendon was the third oldest. Bruce Dudon the then Chairman of EMH and Ian met and decided the merger had great merit and they would take it to their respective Committees. EMH needed a simple majority to dissolve their club and merge into a new club (Essendon EMH), while Essendon needed a 75% acceptance to dissolve and merge. The Essendon vote was successful by 1 vote (and the rest as they say is history)
Without the creation of the special athletics facility and the merger of EMH and Essendon it would be reasonable to suggest that AE would probably not exist today! It took a lot of courage and foresight, to take this risk, and Ian had an abundance of both!
Ian as an Athlete-
One needs to understand the athletic tracks were nothing like the surfaces we run on today. Ian’s era started with grass and cinders running surfaces. Despite his Ian ran around 1.51 for the 800, just missing selection to the 1966 Comm Games. He could run well over any distance from 200m hurdles, miles (4:10) to a sub-3 hour Marathon. He ran in the New York marathon when his work as a general Manager of an International insurance company took him to the US.
Ian trained very hard and took many up-and-coming athletes under his guidance. There would be few of our club’s older members who didn’t get a lift to or from a comp. As Max Warlow said on the day of Ian’s passing, Ian often drove Max to events after work, sometimes waiting until after 9pm and then driving him home.
Ian as a guiding force-
Ian’s skill in how to run a committee, liaise with MVCC, courageously support club defining decisions, stand Ian alone as this club’s greatest administrator. Many former members were tapped on the shoulder by Ian and encouraged to join the committee; he made sure they took on a role.
The athletics club was one of his many passions and he wrote the club’s history; he also was involved with the Essendon Historical Society and taught at U3A up until quite recently. He also played bridge and was on the committee at the local Bridge Club. At one point he was a member of Mensa where membership requires an IQ of 140+.
He played social squash, tennis and golf with John Cooper and was a tough opponent who just kept getting the ball in play.
Actively assisting, encouraging athletes was a trademark of Ian.
He loved athletics, he loved the Club.
Rest In Peace Ian.
