Sportsman leaves a lasting local legacy
LANCE PEARSON
Sporting identity
FEW people have made bigger contributions to Otago sport than Lance Pearson.
One of the region’s most influential basketball figures, he also put together a 10year first class cricket career. He died on July 20, aged 82. Just weeks before his death, he had been made a life member of Basketball Otago.
It was perhaps an overdue honour for someone whose work continues to benefit players today.
Launcelot Robert Pearson was born in Dunedin on January 1, 1937, to Launcelot sen and Jesse Pearson. He was the brother of four boys and one sister.
He grew up in Bayview Rd opposite King’s High School — which he would later attend after his time at St Clair and Macandrew Intermediate schools.
While at school, cricket was his primary sporting focus and he was a talented allrounder for the First XI.
He went on to play 31 matches for Otago from 1961 to 1971, averaging 23.64 with the bat and making a high score of 140.
He married wife Shona in 1966 and had children Marnie and the late Kelly.
The couple separated in 1986.
Meanwhile, basketball became a prominent part of Lance’s life after leaving school.
He began playing as a 17yearold at the Dunedin YMCA and would take 500 shots a day.
Throughout the 1960s, he was a key part of an Otago team that won 13 consecutive South Island titles, as well as captaining the national titlewinning teams of 1968 and
1970.
He played guard in a lineup which included fellow Otago greats Judge John MacDonald, John Paul and Carl Dickel.
Defences struggled to contain him and he regularly scored 30 or more points a game — it has been estimated he netted 30,000 baskets in his career.
He played his final game for Otago in 1979 aged 42, although his influence continued off the court.
As a coach, he guided King’s High School to the national final, while also coaching King’s Old Boys and Otago teams.
In 1971, he had a key role in moving men’s club basketball to Saturdays. Previously, it had been played midweek and was used as fitness for rugby and football players, rather than seen as a serious sporting option.
He was also one of a handful of people involved in setting up miniball — children’s basketball — in Otago.
On the first day, there were nine players. It has since been renamed Kiwi Hoops, and now has 148 teams.
Last year, he displayed his continuing influence by helping attract Kiwi NBA star Steven Adams to Dunedin to run a camp for 400 schoolaged players.
Pearson was heavily involved in the Bendigo Valley Sport and Charity Trust for 30 years. He remained a company director until his death.
Pearson is survived by daughter Marnie, two grandchildren and older brother Kenneth.
— Jeff Cheshire