16.06.2009

Track and field community bids farewell to a legend

It is with deep regret that Box Hill Athletic Club notes the passing of its inspirational coach and leader, Allan Barlow.

Allan Barlow was an outstanding coach and the mainstay of the rise and success of Box Hill Athletic Club in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Allan maintained his interest and involvement in the club well into the 1990s, retiring from active coaching in 1994. The current success of Box Hill AC was built on the foundation of achievement for which he was responsible for so many years.

Allan’s contribution to the Box Hill Athletic Club augmented that made by the late Reg Barlow, Allan's brother.

Together they made a formidable team and certainly made a difference to Australian athletics. Box Hill had an unrivalled period of success between 1964 and 1980 when the club swept all opposition away in recording A-Grade premierships for 17 consecutive years. 

The Box Hill AC was formed in the mid 1930s and through the efforts of some very committed members was able to survive the difficult years of the Great Depression and World War II. It was not long after World War II that the older Barlow, Reg, joined the club. Box Hill’s progression was slow but sure, rising from D-Grade in 1946 to A-Grade in 1951.

Allan Barlow arrived at Box Hill in 1958. To quote the club's A Decade of Achievement publication, “Allan hit the club like a tropical tornado – adding new drive and energy in administration and coaching. To Allan, being second best is nowhere near good enough and he raised the hackles of many a conservative with his refusal to abide by negative thinking. He was often bodily removed from the Town Hall where he insisted on presenting his case for better facilities.”

The Barlow recruiting campaign in local schools paid large dividends - the enormous injection of talent into the club later blossomed in 1964 to record the first of the club's 17 consecutive A-Grade premierships. The club went on to win another seven premierships before Allan’s retirement.

Allan Barlow coached many elite athletes. His combination of Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, world championships, World Cup, Pacific Conference Games and world cross country representatives, combined with a long list of national and state champions, would place him as the most successful athletics coach Australia has seen.

The honour boards at Box Hill tell the tale of how successful he was. One of his most distinguished moments came in 1976, when five Box Hill athletes were selected in the Olympic team and Allan was chosen as an Australian Olympic coach, an honour he richly deserved.

Allan was a perfectionist and his painstaking care resulted in the remarkable improvement of so many athletes. He was just as generous with his time and knowledge with your average interclub athlete as he was with an Olympian. Under Allan’s guidance, ordinary athletes performed way above the norm for the grade in which they competed. It was quite customary to see a Barlow athlete running a two-minute 800m performance as low as D-Grade, such was the club's depth.

The Box Hill AC success was not just reserved to the A-Grade team. During Allan’s reign, the club invariably won all the lower and junior grades as well. To achieve this Allan needed to be able to reach down to all levels. He did this with amazing success. Many of these athletes have to this day continued to stay in the sport in coaching and administrative roles in the club.

Since his retirement from the sport, Allan’s appearance at an athletics meet or function would always create a flurry of activity. At the club's 70th anniversary dinner in 2002 the depth of feeling towards him was amazing to see. Two hundred plus attendees mobbed him when he arrived and a succession of former athletes he had helped, guided and influenced made their way to his table to reminisce and to tell him about what they had done after finishing at the Box Hill AC.

Allan Barlow was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 1987 in recognition of his services to athletics.

Allan Barlow was a very determined person who had a major positive influence on the lives of many young people and who encouraged them to do their best. He encouraged a great sense of pride in personal and club achievement and was largely responsible for the dynastic success of the club for which he did so much. He is one great man that will live on in our hearts and lives and that of the Box Hill AC for as long as this club survives.

Allan passed away on June 1, 2009, aged 96.

Vale Allan Barlow.

Tribute by Robert Falkenberg