Gordon Jolly

Gordon Jolly had two great moments in lawn bowls.

The first came at Sydney in 1966, when he, Ron Buchan, Norm Lash and Bill O’Neill won the fours gold medal at the inaugural world bowls championships. The New Zealanders finished 3rd in their pool and in the play-offs beat Australia 21-18, drew with Scotland 21-21, beat USA 25-15 and beat England 21-17 to shade Australia and Scotland for 1st place.

Jolly, Lash and O’Neill nearly got among the medals in the triples too. After finishing 3rd in their pool, they lost to England in their final play-off match and were consigned to 4th place.

Jolly’s other memorable moment in bowls was at the 1974 Christchurch Commonwealth Games, when he teamed with Kerry Clark, Jack Somerville and Dave Baldwin to win the fours gold medal. The consistent New Zealanders thrived on the atmosphere at the Woolston Workingmen’s Club venue, and compiled a record of 10 wins and two losses to finish with 20 points.

They edged out Australia and Scotland for the medals, despite being beaten by Australia 33-11 early in the tournament. In the final round, New Zealand delivered when they needed to, scoring a thumping 33-9 win over defending champions Hong Kong, while Australia came unstuck against Papua New Guinea.

Jolly, born in Cromwell in 1913, the son of the Mayor of Cromwell. He began playing bowls in Oamaru at the Meadowbank club. Joining the Leith club in Dunedin in 1946, he went on to win 18 centre bowls titles.[5]

He won the 1970 fours title at the national championships, representing Leith, and was chosen, along with Percy Jones, Robbie Robson and Bob McDonald, in the men’s four for the 1970 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh. The New Zealanders finished 11th.

Jolly was made a life member of Bowls New Zealand, having served as a national selector, secretary–treasurer and, in 1968, president.

In 1977, he was awarded an OBE. He died in 1986, aged 73.

Gordon Jolly was an inaugural inductee into the Bowls New Zealand Hall of Fame in 2013.