MSE alumni in the sporting history books

Alumni — By Greta Harrison on November 21, 2011 11:09 am

The Melbourne School of Engineering has not only launched the careers of key figures in the engineering and IT industry, it has also been home to many students who went on to national and international glory in the sporting arena.

The list of MSE sporting stars is an impressive one: from 1950 Hop, Step, Jump Commonwealth Bronze medallist Professor Ian Polmear (DE, 1965, MSc, 1956, BE, 1949) to recent sailing world champion Jonothan Neate (BGeomE, 2006), who won the 2010 Contender World Championship.

However, balancing the rigours of an Engineering degree with the demands of training and world-class sporting competitions can be quite a challenge.

Just ask former Australian cricketer, Jim Higgs (BECivEng, 1971). He was already playing for Victoria while completing his Bachelor of Engineering, and had organised with Professor Len Stevens to find an alternate date to sit his exams.

He said Professor Stevens had been flexible in allowing the exam change so that he could play for Victoria in an interstate game.

“Then I found out later, after it had all been organised, that one of the selectors from Victoria had rung the University and asked the switchboard when the exams were on and was told the dates,” he said.
“So I was left out of the team because I had exams.”

A lover of cricket from an early age, Mr Higgs said that at the time he didn’t put a lot of thought into how he was going to balance his study load with his commitments as a Victorian player.

“I don’t think I ever really thought about it. It was just something that I wanted to do, so I did it.”

“It was an enjoyable time for sport and studies. I probably didn’t study as much as I should have, but I got through!”

His dedication to the game paid off when he was finally selected to go on the 1975 Ashes tour of England, eventually enjoying his first international victory in the West Indies in 1978. He played for Australia until 1980/81 and then went on to become a national selector for 11 years.

Mr Higgs is now Principal Director of TTM consulting, a specialist traffic engineering and transport planning company that is helping to devise solutions to transport-based problems in urban areas.

Athletics star Bruce Field was busy being an Olympian and Commonwealth Games medalist, all while undertaking his PhD in the Department of Mechanical Engineering during the early 70s.

Associate Professor Field is currently based at Monash University in the Department of Mechanical Engineering.

He represented Australia at the 1972 Munich Olympics, in Long Jump and 400m hurdles. He won silver in the 400m hurdles at the 1974 Christchurch Commonwealth Games, an Australian record that stood for over 20 years.

His medal-winning race can be seen on YouTube:

 

The Melbourne School of Engineering was also home to Sydney 2000 gold medalist, Thomas King. After completing his BE (Mech and ManufEng) (Hons) in 1998, Mr King went on to achieve a celebrated sailing win in Sydney, taking home the glory in the Men’s double-handed dinghy event.

Other MSE graduates who went on to sporting glory include:

• Jim Fox (BE (Mech) 1972, MEngSc 1975, PhD (Eng) 1979) – 2011 Kernot Medallist who spent three seasons as a professional AFL footballer at the South Melbourne Swans before he pursued his career in research and innovation.
• Andrew Michelmore (BE (ChemEng),1975) – World champion rower and Rhodes Scholar who was president of the Oxford University Boat Club. Mr Michelmore went on to head up the Western Mining Corporation and is now CEO of MMG.
• Lachlan Dreher (BE (ChemEng) 1990) – Three time Olympic medallist with the Australian Men’s Hockey Team, winning silver in Barcelona in 1992 and Bronze in Atlanta in 1996 and Sydney in 2000.
• Illja Grgic (BE (ChemEng) (Hons),1996) – AFL player throughout the 1990s, playing for Footscray, the West Coast Eagles and Essendon. Mr Grgic went on to a career with Shell as an engineering manager on key national projects.
• Elly Hutton (BSc, 2002, BE (ElecEng) (Hons), 2002) – Took part in the Sydney Olympics with the Australian athletics team, running in the 4 x 100m women’s relay.
• Sarah Heard (BSc, 2006, BGeomE, 2006) – Olympian who raced with the Australian women’s rowing eights at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Tags: Alumni, biomedical engineering, chemical and biomolecular engineering, computer science and software engineering, electrical and electronic engineering, infrastructure engineering, mechanical engineering