Educated at Manchester Grammar School, before going to St. John’s College, Cambridge, Richard Zimmern played both lacrosse and ice hockey in the annual matches against Oxford. He won a lacrosse Half-Blue in 1948 and 1949, when he was team captain, but Blues were not awarded when he made his ice hockey appearance in 1949. Zimmern also skippered the University side to the final of the 1948 University Lacrosse Championship when they were beaten, ironically, by Manchester in the final. During his time at University, Zimmern appeared for The South in the annual match against The North in 1947. He moved back to the north of England late in 1949, and played his club hockey with Old Mancunians. Having been a reserve for the All-England team at the 1948 Olympics, Zimmern got a chance to play for Great Britain at Inverleith in 1950, when they played the visiting Yale University team. In 1961 he managed a combined Oxford/Cambridge University team on a tour of the United States. Shortly after World War II, Zimmern served in the Royal Army Veterinary Corps.
Great Britain