Bruce Anthony Hunter (born 16 September 1950) is a former New Zealand
rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...
player and middle-distance athlete.
Rugby union
A
wing three-quarter, Hunter represented
Otago
Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...
at a provincial level, and was a member of the New Zealand national side, the
All Blacks
The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 ...
, from 1970 to 1971. He played 10 matches for the All Blacks including three internationals.
Although Hunter was explosive on the rugby field, it was his passion for education that lead him into a career in teaching, where he focused on Physical Education. It was at Shirley Boys' High School, where Hunter spent much of his teaching career, that he mastered the rare vocal trait known as 'The Worble." A Worble is when ones volume is able to instantly increase randomly in the middle of sentences, before returning to the normal, acceptable level.
Athletics
Hunter won the national 800 m title at the New Zealand athletics championships in 1970, 1971 and 1975. He missed selection for the Munich Olympics, along with John Walker, when both of them missed the qualifying time of 1min 47.5 by only 0.1 seconds. He then went on in his teaching career at Shirley BHS to coach a number of successful athletes to NZSec School honours, most notably David Kett who represented NZ at U19 level in 800 m himself. Interestingly, David also switched to a rugby career in his early 20s mirroring his coach's pathway. David played for the Canterbury Rugby rep team in the early 1990s at mostly Centre. Bruce had a long running career, preferring to train with his athletes, eventually retiring from competition at age 40, still capable of a 2min 800 m.
References
1950 births
Living people
Rugby union players from Oamaru
People educated at Waitaki Boys' High School
New Zealand rugby union players
New Zealand international rugby union players
Otago rugby union players
Rugby union wings
New Zealand male middle-distance runners
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