Obituary – Wayne Wrack

One of the Northern region’s most colourful and successful bowlers, and a good friend of the North Harbour centre, Wayne Wrack, passed away on Saturday at his Northland home, aged 78. Wayne had battled bravely against cancer for some years but retained his love of the game until the end.

Most of his 50-year involvement with bowls, as a player, green-keeper and in administration, was spent in the Northland and Auckland centres, but in recent years he had also become part of the Harbour centre, having been persuaded about 10 years ago to join the Orewa club by his Northland team-mate Kevin Robinson.
Wayne soon began to appreciate many aspects about the Harbour centre: the playing standard, the excellence of many of the greens and Its readiness to be innovative at administrative level.

Greenkeeping was another of his passions and in Auckland he served as greenkeeper at the Carlton and Glen Eden clubs, winning a number of awards.
In his long-playing career Wayne won a remarkable tally of almost 40 centre titles, most of these were in Northland but he also won an Auckland gold star while playing with the Carlton club. But one of the last of his centre titles was in North Harbour when he won the 2018-19 singles championship, beating the equally renowned Colin Rogan in an epic final, having beaten the promising Daryl Read, then with Takapuna, in the semi-finals.

Very much a singles specialist, he amassed at club, provincial and national levels a staggering 65 singles championship. Among them was the prestigious Auckland Lions Masters title in 1990, for which he won prize money of $2500. That technically made him a professional and under the strictly enforced regulations at the time probably cost him a chance of playing for New Zealand at events like the Commonwealth Games.

Though close at times, he never won a national championship, but in his later years, with his Northland club, he did win a national pathways triples title.
Surprisingly, for he was often at odds with officialdom, Wayne became a member of the Harbour board of management, at the behest of then chairman and later life member, Graham Dorreen.

Paying tribute to his contribution, Graham says he had a large impact in three areas. The Battle of the Bridge with Auckland, and its format along Ryder Cup golf lines, was his suggestion and it has now become a major event on the representative calendar. He also helped instigate, with Gary Stevens as its convener, the legends committee and voting academy, and had meaningful role in the centre’s coaching committee.  “He could be very strong in his views,” Graham said. “But to be fair once a decision was made he accepted it even if his view was not the general consensus.”

Legends convener Gary Stevens also saluted Wayne’s contribution to the centre, as player and selector. He said his legacy to Bowls North Harbour would be the Legends award, which he proposed as a member of the centre board and to which his in-depth knowledge of past and present players was invaluable.
A celebration of Wayne’s life is to be held at the Maungaturoto Bowling Club on Friday, November 28, at 1.30pm.
Bowls North Harbour sends its condolences to Wayne’s widow, Sandra, and his family.