Jack Ernest Pollard OAM (31 July 1926 – 25 May 2002) was an Australian sports journalist, writer and

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

historian.

Early life

Born in Sydney on 31 July 1926, Pollard began his journalism career in 1943 as a copy boy at Sydney's ''

Daily Telegraph Daily or The Daily may refer to: Journalism * Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks * ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times'' * ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...

'' newspaper. At the age of 18, he was called up to the

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (CA), who ...

, serving from 1944 to 1947 and finishing with the rank of sergeant. A foot injury sustained during an army rugby game saw him sit out nine months at

Holsworthy Barracks Holsworthy Barracks is an Australian Army military barracks, located in the Heathcote National Park in Holsworthy approximately from the central business district, in south-western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The barracks is part of ...

. The injury may have saved Pollard's life as the other men of his assigned platoon were later killed in action in

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torres ...

Journalism career

From 1945 to 1947, Pollard lived in post-war Japan working as a sports editor for the armed forces newspaper there. He returned to Sydney briefly, then moved to England, where he worked as a

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic pr ...

writer for a newspaper in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire ...

. In 1948, he started work as a correspondent for the

Australian Associated Press Australian Associated Press (AAP) is an Australian news agency. It was established by Keith Murdoch in 1935. AAP employs around 80 journalists who work in bureaus in all states and territories of Australia except the Northern Territory. It a ...

in London which included a regular column, sometimes serious, other times humorous. He covered many major sporting events, including the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1948) were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, England, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus ...

, ten

Wimbledon Championships The Wimbledon Championships, commonly known simply as Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is widely regarded as the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London, since 1877 and is pla ...

and the 1948 tour of England by

Don Bradman Sir Donald George Bradman, (27 August 1908 – 25 February 2001), nicknamed "The Don", was an Australian international cricketer, widely acknowledged as the greatest batsman of all time. Bradman's career Test batting average of 99.94 has b ...

Australian cricket team The Australia men's national cricket team represents Australia in men's international cricket. As the joint oldest team in Test cricket history, playing in the first ever Test match in 1877, the team also plays One-Day International (ODI) a ...

Publishing career

Pollard returned to Sydney in 1956, where he worked as a sports reporter with the ''Telegraph'' before starting his own publishing company in 1959, Jack Pollard Publishing, which specialised in books on sport and leisure topics.''The Oxford Companion to Australian Cricket'', Oxford, Melbourne, 1996, p. 423. Pollard was a prolific writer and editor, who produced a large number of sporting reference books, including a definitive five-volume history of

Australian cricket The Australia men's national cricket team represents Australia in men's international cricket. As the joint oldest team in Test cricket history, playing in the first ever Test match in 1877, the team also plays One-Day International (ODI) a ...

, encyclopaedias on

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 it ...

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

and a series of popular fishing guides. He also wrote biographies for several sports stars including tennis players

Lew Hoad Lewis Alan Hoad (23 November 1934 – 3 July 1994) was an Australian tennis player whose career ran from 1950 to 1973. Hoad won four Major singles tournaments as an amateur (the Australian Championships, French Championships and two Wimbledon ...

and

Rod Laver Rodney George Laver (born 9 August 1938) is an Australian former tennis player. Laver was the world number 1 ranked professional in some sources in 1964, in all sources from 1965 to 1969 and in some sources in 1970, spanning four years befor ...

, cricketer

Keith Miller Keith Ross Miller (28 November 1919 – 11 October 2004) was an Australian Test cricketer and a Royal Australian Air Force pilot during World War II. Miller is widely regarded as Australia's greatest ever all-rounder. His ability, irreverent m ...

and umpire Lou Rowan, golfer

Bruce Devlin Bruce William Devlin (born 10 October 1937) is an Australian professional golfer, sportscaster and golf course designer. Devlin was born in Armidale, Australia. He turned pro in 1961 and joined the PGA Tour in 1962 after an amateur career in ...

, rugby league players Ken Thornett and

Johnny Raper John William Raper (12 April 1939 – 9 February 2022) was an Australian professional rugby league footballer and coach. Nicknamed "Chook", he was a lock-forward who earned a then-record of 33 Test caps in the Australia national team between ...

, and VFL player Peter McKenna.Jack Pollard

Sport Australia Hall of Fame The Sport Australia Hall of Fame was established on 10 December 1985 to recognise the achievements of Australian sportsmen and sportswomen. The inaugural induction included 120 members with Sir Don Bradman as the first inductee and Dawn Fraser t ...

Books on cricket

Although Pollard's works included all Australian sports, it is his cricket writing that is considered an important part of his legacy. Books include such topics as: * The history of Australian cricket * Cricket statistics * The "Australian way" of playing cricket

Retirement

Pollard retired from publishing in 1981 to concentrate on writing. He died on 25 May 2002, after suffering a stroke upon his return to Sydney from a research trip in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...

Honours

*1983: English Cricket Society's Jubilee Award *12 December 1990: General member of the

*8 June 1992:

Medal of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

for service to sports journalism and sporting historyPOLLARD, Jack Ernest
, ''

It's an Honour The It's an Honour website is the Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westmins ...

'' (Australian Government). The Jack Pollard Trophy is awarded annually by the Australian Cricket Society for the leading Australian cricket book published over the previous 12 months.

References

External links

Resources for Jack Pollard
at

National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "maint ...

*Author biography
Jack Pollard

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News C ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pollard, Jack 1926 births 2002 deaths Journalists from Sydney Australian sports journalists Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees Australian cricket writers Australian Army personnel of World War II Australian Army soldiers