Dame fame at last for Olympic trail blazer Yvette Corlett
Sunday, 2 June 2019
A long overdue damehood to late New Zealand Olympic Games gold medallist Yvette Corlett caps a strong sporting presence in the Queen's Birthday Honours List.
Former Kiwis rugby league coach Graham Lowe was knighted for services to youth and education, while former Silver Ferns netball coach Yvonne Willering and Indycar Series motor racing Scott Dixon became Companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit, and former world heavyweight boxing title contender David Tua has become an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
Dame Yvette Corlett's upgrade to Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit should be popularly received among the sporting public.
As Yvette Williams, she became New Zealand's first female Olympic champion when she won the long jump gold medal at the Helsinki Games in 1952.
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* Brother says Corlett 'should have been a Dame'
* Yvette Corlett: Pioneer, superstar and undervalued national treasure
* Olympic gold medallist Yvette Corlett (Williams) has died, aged 89**
Corlett's death - on April 13 at 89 - prompted surprise that she had never been accorded Dame status, alongside fellow track and field star Valerie Adams, legendary netball coach Lois Muir and squash star Susan Devoy.
That oversight has been put right with confirmation in the Queen's Birthday Honours notes that 'Her Majesty's approval of [Dame Yvette's] award took effect on 12 April 2019, prior to the date of decease'.
It's a day of mixed emotions for her family, said brother Roy Williams, who wished Yvette had been able to receive the honour herself.
'She would have been really proud to have received it, because she had a very close connection with the Queen, over several years she meet the Queen on separate occasions. It would have been a great honour.
'She had a letter from the Government 10 or 12 days before she died stating that she would be made a dame in the Queen's Birthday Honours.
'So she was aware of it and obviously thrilled about it, but unfortunately she died before she had the opportunity to have the public recognition from media and family and friends.'
Corlett, who received the MBE in 1953 and a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit award in 2011, was one of New Zealand's most talented sportswomen of her time.
The one-time Otago netball representative won four Empire Games gold medals, including three in Vancouver in 1954 after which she retired to raise a family with husband Buddy Corlett, a New Zealand basketball and softball representative.
She continued to serve sport as a volunteer coach and was patron of Athletics New Zealand and the Counties Manukau Sports Trust and a New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame governor for five years.
Sir Graham Lowe, 72, had already been honoured with the Queen's Service Medal in 1986 at the end of his tenure as Kiwis coach, and became an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2013.
His charity, The Lowie Foundation, runs programmes for teenagers aged 16 to 19 struggling at schools and has also run modules in New Zealand prisons.
Lowe, a former Kiwis, Queensland, Manly and Wigan coach, joins a select group of knights honoured for more than their sporting exploits, including Sir John Kirwan, Sir Brian Lochore and the late Sir Colin Meads.
Tua, 46, received his ONZM award for services to youth, boxing and the community. He became a MNZM in 2001, after losing his world title bout to Lennox Lewis.
The Aucklander resumed boxing in 2005 and ended his career with 52 wins from 59 bouts.
Since retiring, Tua has been an ambassador for programmes assisting youth and the homeless and set up his David Tua Health and Fitness service in 2014.
Willering, who played 57 tests for New Zealand, coached the Silver Ferns from 1997 to 2002 (the same year she became an officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit).
The 69-year-old remains an active coach, serving as a specialist defence coach to national league teams and the Silver Ferns this year. She is a member of the International Netball Federation coaching advisory panel and coaches Harbour Force in the North Harbour premier club competition.
Dixon, 38, joins Willering as a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM) after being awarded a MNZM award in 2011.
The Indianapolis resident won his fifth Indycar Series title in 2018. He has 44 series wins and was the subject of a 2018 television documentary, Born Racer: The Scott Dixon Story.
Sarah Hirini (formerly Goss) has become a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) after captaining the Black Ferns sevens women's rugby team to world titles in 2013 and 2018. The 26-year-old also led her team to a silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games and to the gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Hutt Valley's Naomi Shaw has been awarded the MNZM for 55 years service to softball. The 63-year-old captained New Zealand to its only world women's title in 1982 and later coached the White Sox at two world championships.
Longtime cricket broadcaster Bryan Waddle, 71, becomes a MNZM after commentating on more than 250 test matches and 400 one-day internationals.