Local legends inducted into Sports Hall of Fame

Simon Dickie, three-time Olympic rowing medallist, and journalist and stalwart of Whanganui Rugby, John ‘JB’ Phillips, are the latest sporting legends to be inducted into the Whanganui Sports Hall of Fame at a ceremony at Cooks Gardens.

Family, friends, former colleagues and crewmates were in attendance to honour the two inductees.

The late Simon Dickie (1951-2017) is still one of New Zealand’s most successful Olympic rowing athletes, earning three medals across three consecutive games in the 1960’s-1970’s.

Born in Waverley and educated at Whanganui Collegiate School, Dickie was selected as coxswain for the New Zealand men’s coxed four, which went on to win a historic gold medal at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. He followed that up with another gold medal as part of the famed New Zealand men’s eight that would beat the favoured “professional” crews at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany. His third medal came once again in the eight in Montreal, Canada, in 1976, where the crew won bronze.

The 1968 coxed four and 1972 eight were inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame in 1990. Upon his retirement from rowing Dickie built a successful adventure tourism company in Taupō, where he sadly passed away in 2017.

Alongside Dickie, the Hall of Fame also recognises a second legend in Whanganui sport in journalist and historian John Brian ‘JB’ Phillips (1938-2024).

As a sports reporter and later editor with the Wanganui Herald and the Whanganui Chronicle from 1956 to 1999, Phillips chronicled the performances of several generations of Whanganui athletes and teams. Rugby was his passion, and Phillips was made a life member of the Whanganui Rugby Football Union (WRFU) in 2017.

Regarded as Whanganui’s foremost sporting statistician and historian, Phillips meticulously documented more than 50 years’ worth of local fixtures and player records to collate what is now a priceless archive of information.

Beyond rugby, Phillips’ contribution to the wider sporting community included organising the original Whanganui Sports Awards in 1963 and serving in a long-standing capacity as a judge for both the Awards and the Whanganui Sports Hall of Fame.

To be eligible for the Hall of Fame, nominees must be from the Whanganui District, by birth or adoption, have been retired at least five years from top competition, represented New Zealand at a ‘senior’ level and/or contributed positively to, and brought credit to, sport in the district.

Nominations for the Whanganui Sports Hall of Fame will open again in late 2026. A full list of Whanganui Sports Hall of Fame members and their citations can be found on the Whanganui District Council website: https://www.whanganui.govt.nz/Community-Culture/Sports-Hall-of-Fame