John Dwyer

John Dwyer represented Queensland in field hockey from 1951 through 1958, winning three Best and Fairest awards during his career, as well as the Noall Shield in 1954. Internationally, his most important appearance came at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, where he played one classification match as goalkeeper in Australia’s fifth place finish at the Games. He was a contender to represent his country again at the 1960 Roma Games, but broke a kneecap while playing in 1959, effectively ending his competitive days.

By career he was an award-winning sports journalist, first at the Queensland Times and then at the Sydney Sun. In addition to hockey he covered lawn bowls and Aussie Rules football. He and his wife moved to Kangaroo Valley, New South Wales, where they ran the Friendly Inn, but he returned to Queensland and worked as a feature writer for the Gold Coast Bulletin. He received the Australian Sports Medal in 2000.