MEN WE MEET

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XVI, Issue 943, 2 April 1908, Page 7

MEN WE MEET

NO. 8 MR. R. B. LUSK.

When the horses are lined up for a race at Ellerslie, if one glances at the judge’s box there is sure to be seen the tai, athletic form of Mr. Robert Buller Lusk, who, like the boy with the marbles, is called Bob for short by his legions of friends. He is a son of Major Lusk, who distinguished himself during the fighting in the Waikato in the sixties. Bob was born in the Pukekohe district in 1868, and at a very early age showed his love for athletics of all kinds. He could always run a bit ,and won many races at school. In the palmy days of the Auckland Amateur Athletic Club Bob was a veritable power in the land. Hurdling was his specialty, and he was one of the first to adopt the “ three strides and over” method. It doesn’t seem eighteen years ago that I saw the popular Aucklander turn out in Sydney for the 120Yds Hurdle Championship of Australia, yet so' it is. There were some fairly smart men engaged, but Bob proved the daddy of the lot, and won handily. Auckland had not commenced sweeping all before it in athletics at that time, and Lusk’s fine performance was thought a good deal of. So well was he running about that time that he was asked to concede all sorts of starts over hurdles, but it was a difficult thing to keep him out of a race at the finish. The half-mile championship of Auckland was another event which went to Lusk’s credit, as well as numerous other races. The genial Robert was also a footballer “of credit and renown,” and was always a tower of strength to his side. He generally played among the back division, either at fullback or in the threequarter-line, halfbacks, as they were then called. He represented Auckland against the New South Wales team which came here in 1886. Against them the Aucklanders were successful in all three matches, winning by 6—o, 14 —4, 11— _. He also turned out for the province in the three following years. It was in 1888 that Stoddart brought his famous team to New Zealand, and Lusk was one of the Auckland team to meet them. This was the team of which R. L. Seddon was captain. He was drowned at Newcastle, his untimely end being universally deplored. Four matches were played against Auckland. The Englishmen won the first by 6 points to 3, lost the second by 4 to nil, won the third by 3 points to nil, and drew the fourth with one point each, from which it may be concluded there was very

little between the rival fifteens. One could write a good deal of the many gallant battles on the football ground of those days, and it seems hard to believe that twenty years have slipped away since they took place. In 1890 Mr. Lusk crossed the Tasman Sea to Sydney, where he resided for some two years. So highly was he thought of over there, that he was picked to don the light blue jersey for New South Wales. On his return he went to practice his profession as a barrister down Taranaki way, and while living in the South represented that province, donning the amber and black jersey in 1892-3-4. Bob has always been fond of the game of cricket. If memory serves me right it is some twenty-three years ago since I first saw him playing for the old Gordon Club, in its day a very powerful eleven. That’s a long time ago, yet Bob is still an enthusiast at the game, and now plays for the Parnell eleven. Perhaps R. Neill is about the only one still playing first-class cricket who donned the flannels with Lusk in those far-off days. Fond as he is of the game, I doubt whether the subject of this article was ever quite so good as his cousins, for the name of Lusk is known on the cricket field from one end of the island to the other. Bob used to be an expert in the gymnasium, and was, in fact, a fine all-round athlete. Nowadays time that was once given up to practice at the nets is devoted to gardening, and “ when the roses bloom again” he will be able to show a fine collection at his pretty home at Parnell, where, by the way, are to be found more than one chip of the old block. Some seasons back, when the Hon. E. Mitchelson resigned the position of judge, the Auckland Racing Club decided to appoint a stipendiary official, and Mr. Lusk was chosen from a number of others. The selection was a good one, for although often called upon to adjudicate in a close finish, the tall Aucklander has invariably given his decisions promptly and accurately. As a result he have been spared any of those unsportsmanlike exhibitions which the papers are wont to describe ts “ a hostile demonstration against the judge.” Everyone who has met Bob knows him for a fine all-round sportsman and a good fel ow, and as such he is fully entitled to a place in our “ Men We Meet” gallery.