OBITUARY: Clement Parker (Clem), December 31, 1926 – November 6, 2017 Running legend crosses final finish line
Clem Parker was an athlete, capable in his day of sprinting the 100 yards (91.4 metres) in 9.6 seconds.
His time, achieved at Napier’s McLean Park in 1950, would equate to around 10.5 seconds for today’s 100 metre race. (The current men’s 100m sprint world record of 9.58 seconds is held by Usain Bolt of Jamaica.)
His result, he said in an interview with the Waikato Times a few years back, was ‘‘a pretty hot time in those days, and that was on grass’’.
Clem, with his sister Dorrie, went on to represent New Zealand at the 1950 Empire Games in Auckland.
He won a bronze medal as a member of the men’s 110-yard relay team, with Clem the first runner. He competed in the 100 and 220-yard sprints, and was placed sixth in each of the finals.
Not bad for a man who, at eight years of age, was read the last rites by his parish priest as he struggled with failing kidneys. His parents, Dorothea and Albert, had been told their eldest child would not make it through the night.
When Clem died last month, a couple of months short of his 91st birthday, he had lived a full and active life, and was well known, until recently, at his local gym, where he was something of a role model.
Born in Hastings, Clem grew up on his family’s sheep and cattle farm at Waitetuna, near Raglan. He left school at 15 and worked land at both Waitetuna and Te Akau for 33 years. At his farewell, daughter Catherine recalled that Clem enjoyed training farm dogs. ‘‘A neighbour once asked if Clem had a new dog called basket. I’m guessing that was the training language?’’
Moving from the farm into Hamilton, Clem became an insurance agent for the next 20 years with the Government Life as it was known at the time, until his retirement at 60.
While farming he played rugby and, at 19 in 1946, represented Waikato in the first junior team. After that he played for the Raglan senior team and Hamilton Marist. Then, at 22, he moved to the athletic track and shone, winning many Waikato titles, and the NZ Championship for the 100 yards in 1950 in a time of 9.6 seconds, a time just 0.3 seconds off the world record at the time.
At his peak, Clem also raced over 220 yards, and was runner-up in that event to Dave Batten at the New Zealand championships over three years, from 1948 to 1950. Clem ran 21.3 seconds, Dave did 21.2. ‘‘The beggar kept beating me,’’ he told the Times. ‘‘I just couldn’t nail it.’’
A photo from Clem’s heyday shows him at full sprinting stretch – lean, poised, with excellent muscle definition.
Clem’s sprinting career took off after a Te Pahu sports meeting in 1946, when he won everything in sight. He had had no training, but his father could see his potential, and made inquiries with the Hamilton Athletics Club.
There was a bit of a flap over the fact Clem had won £10 in prize money at Te Pahu, thus jeopardising his amateur status. In the end, the athletics club decided to forget that ever happened.
Clem began competing seriously, got some training (‘‘looking back, it was limited advice’’), and by 1950 was the 100 yards national sprint champ, earning his place in the Empire Games team.
He raced for another year after the Games, but his heart was not in it. ‘‘I was in love [with Moira].’’
He regretted not having a crack at middle distance running but, when he and Moira married in 1951, he was focused on getting his own farm.
They achieved this a couple of years later, moving to a sheep and cattle property they bought at Te Akau, and raising their five children. Somewhere along the way he sat School Certificate (94 per cent in history) and learnt to speak French and German.
Catherine said she did not realise the significance of Clem’s achievements until one day someone asked her if she had relatives in Hamilton and if she knew Clem Parker. Catherine owned up to Clem being her dad. Then the person began to recite all of Clem and Dorrie’s track achievements. ‘‘You know, Catherine, they were like rock stars,’’ he said.
After Clem and Moira sold the farm, the family settled on a lifestyle block on the outskirts of Hamilton. He began putting on weight, and it led to him taking the pledge to regain his fitness.
He went to see his doctor, who sent him away with a prescription ‘‘for blood pressure and whatever’’.
He was shocked by the big box of pills he was presented with by the chemist. He took them home, had a good look, and decided that he would not have a bar of it.
‘‘I was just overweight. So, I made the second-best decision of my life. That I’d dig a hole in the garden, bury the whole damn lot, and start exercising.’’
Clem went for a jog the next morning, stuck to his plan, and stayed active until earlier this year.
He took up cycling, began aerobics at
58, skiing at 59, triathlons at 62. He had a photograph in his hallway showing him successfully hurdling a four-foot gate on his 60th birthday. That year he played his last game of rugby at his old stamping ground, Te Akau. At 70, he joined a gym and visited four times a week regularly for 20 years (body pump, indoor cycling, and body balance), did a decent walk on the days between, and, on Sundays, walked to church at St Joseph’s in Fairfield.
Clem’s faith was important to him. He always sponsored a child through World Vision, was a member of the St Lazareth charitable order, a founding member of Assisi Hospital in Matangi, and a past president of the Hamilton Club.
Clem and Moira were married for 65 years. The day after her death, Clem had a heart attack. He died six months later.
Clem was the husband of the late Moira for 65 years; father and father-inlaw of Ann and Bruce; Tony; Bruce and Christine; Catherine; and Jacqui; grandpa of Adam and Dee; Maia; Taylor and Lilly; Caitlin; and Jayros; greatgrandpa of Ben, Luke, and Zoe. Uncle to
60 nieces and nephews. ●➤ A Life Story tells of a New Zealander who helped to shape the Waikato community. If you know of someone whose life story should be told, please email Charles.riddle@wintec.ac.nz