David Baldwin (11 December 1921 – 7 July 2012) was a

lawn bowls Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which the objective is to roll biased balls so that they stop close to a smaller ball called a "jack" or "kitty". It is played on a bowling green, which may be flat (for "flat-gre ...

international competitor for

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Personal life

Born in Auckland, Baldwin was educated at New Plymouth Boys' High School and worked for 43 years at the New Plymouth City Council as a civil engineer. In early days he excelled in numerous sports including cricket, tennis, table tennis and soccer.

Bowls career

At the

1974 British Commonwealth Games The 1974 British Commonwealth Games ( mi, 1974 Taumāhekeheke Commonwealth) were held in Christchurch, New Zealand from 24 January to 2 February 1974. The bid vote was held in Edinburgh at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games. The Games were off ...

he won the men's fours gold medal partnering

Kerry Clark Peter Kerry Clark (born 30 June 1949) is New Zealand lawn bowls player and administrator. Early life and family Born in Cromwell on 30 June 1949, Clark was educated at Cromwell District High School from 1961 to 1965. He married his wife, Suz ...

, Gordon Jolly and John Somerville. At the following

1978 Commonwealth Games The 1978 Commonwealth Games were held in Edmonton, Alberta from 3 to 12 August 1978, two years after the 1976 Summer Olympics were held in Montreal, Quebec. They were boycotted by Nigeria, in protest at New Zealand's sporting contacts with apar ...

he won the silver medal again in the men's fours. He won three

New Zealand National Bowls Championships The New Zealand National Bowls Championships is organised by Bowls New Zealand. Bowls was introduced in New Zealand in 1861 but the first national championships were not held until 1914. Men's singles champions Men's pairs champions Men's fou ...

titles when bowling for the Paritutu Bowling Club: the pairs in 1971 with John Murtagh, the fours in 1972 with Murtagh, Bruce John and Ken Tompkins, and the fours again in 1974 with Murtagh, Bruce Ballinger and Ken Murtagh. Baldwin holds 16 Taranaki titles in bowls. Baldwin remained a casual participant until just a few months before he died on 7 July 2012 in New Plymouth.

Awards

In 2013, Baldwin was an inaugural inductee into the Bowls New Zealand Hall of Fame.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baldwin, David New Zealand male bowls players Commonwealth Games gold medallists for New Zealand Commonwealth Games silver medallists for New Zealand Bowls players at the 1974 British Commonwealth Games Bowls players at the 1978 Commonwealth Games 2012 deaths 1921 births Commonwealth Games medallists in lawn bowls 20th-century New Zealand people 21st-century New Zealand people Medallists at the 1974 British Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 1978 Commonwealth Games