We are sad to advise that our oldest member Maurice Flacke – Life Member and Past President, has died on 17th December.
Born in Alassio, Italy, on 10 October 1923, Maurice spent most of the 1939-1945 war years in internment. After being repatriated, Maurice returned from his native Italy to the UK after the war and joined Herne Hill Harriers in 1949 on meeting John ‘Lofty’ Getrup at the AAA Decathlon Championship. His score of 5,318 points (5,136 on 1984 tables) for 7th place in the 1950 AAA Championships at Southampton stood as a club record for seven years. After a kidney operation in 1952 his athletic career was somewhat restricted, though he did manage his best mark of 42.22 metres (measured at 138′ 6″) with the 2 kilo Discus in 1953. His best with the 7.26 kg shot was 12.30m (40′ 4 1/4″) in 1950. In later years he became HHH track secretary and organiser of the prestigious annual Brockman Trophy competition. As a coach at Tooting Bec, Maurice advised sprint hurdler Laurie Tait, decathlete Brian Kettle, and triple jumper Mike Turvey, but perhaps his best success was with long jumper John Howell, the first Briton to leap more than 25 feet (7.62m) when he cleared 7.63 metres at Erith in 1960; a performance that got Howell to the Rome Olympics. Maurice was elected President of Herne Hill Harriers for the club’s 75th anniversary in 1964, and became a Life Member in 1967. A modest, mild-mannered man who never seemed to raise his voice, Maurice had great people skills in coaching as well as good technical knowledge of the sport. He died, aged 91, on 17 December, 2014.
(Words courtesy of David Cocksedge with details from ‘Into the Millennium’ by Kevin Kelly)
Maurice Flacke’s funeral is now confirmed as Croydon Crematorium on Friday 2nd January 2015 at 1pm.