Tributes to former athlete Harry
TRIBUTES have been paid to a former Birmingham athlete, who has died at the age of 97.
Harry Reeves, who was born on July 10, 1918, was one of many athletes of his generation whose career was disrupted in its prime by the war. Despite that, Mr Reeves, who grew up in Aston and later lived in West Heath, was one of many successful Birchfield Harriers endurance runners between 1945 and 1953.
He had the distinction of winning six team medals in consecutive years between 1948 and 1953 in the then prestigious Manchester to Blackpool Road Relays.
On three occasions (1948, 1949 and 1952) he was in the Perry Barr club’s scoring sextet in the National Cross Country Championships. His highest individual finish was eighteenth at Sheffield in 1948.
That summer he won the Warwickshire Three Miles title at Coventry and was runner up to the legendary Tipton Harrier Jack Holden in the Midland Six Miles Championships.
In his last run in the National in 1953, Mr Reeves achieved a longheld ambition of being in a winning club team in the National Cross Country at Reading.
Mr Reeves supported Aston Villa and Warwickshire County Cricket team and the former teacher was delighted to be presented with a cricket bat signed by the Warwickshire players at Edgbaston on his 90th birthday.
Mr Reeves is survived by his daughters Sue and Jan. He was predeceased by his wife Anne. His funeral service is at Redditch Crematorium at 1.15pm on Friday, August 28.