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Richard (Dick) Mason was
born on the 28th. March 1938, the second son and third child
of Richard and Gwen Mason.
Dick’s mother was the
organist at St. Mark’s High Church of England, Fitzroy and she installed
in him at an early age a love of music. Fortunately Dick had an
excellent “Bell Soprano” voice and was chosen for the St. Paul’s
Cathedral choir, which resulted in him gaining a scholarship to Trinity
Grammar School where he made the most of the opportunity to develop a
superb command of the English language, which he would use though out
his adult life.
At age sixteen Dick chose
to go into radio broadcasting as his life career. His first appointment
was in commercial radio in Launceston and later at Mildura before
joining the ABC in 1960.
His career path together
with an arm injury cut short Dick’s playing career in baseball. He had
commenced playing with the East Brunswick club and enjoyed his passion
for the game until his move to Tasmania.
Following his return to
Melbourne where he joined the ABC, Dick became involved in basketball as
a referee and later as an administrator. He served as a vice president
of the Victorian Basketball Association for 10 years and was also
supervisor of referees. He was regarded as one of the best referees in
the country. He was made a life member of that Association.
It was probably during this
time that his passion for baseball was reignited. He would have been in
regular contact with John Frecker, a fellow referee, who was also the
Treasurer of the Waverley Baseball Club having been one of the Glen
Waverley RSL members who started and fostered the club in its early
years.
Dick enthusiastically
launched himself into the Waverley junior program when it began in the
1960s and helped make it one of the most admired junior programs in
Australia.
He became the freely
acknowledged best coach in Pee Wee baseball and enjoyed considerable
success in that role both with the club and on the National level. He
spent seven years as the Victorian under 13 head coach winning four
national titles.
Many people considered him
rigid, inflexible and very demanding. This was not true. Certainly he
would not countenance a fool nor would he accept second best from his
players. However, his coaching knowledge and style was continually
changing as he absorbed all the literature on the game that he could get
hold of as well as making regular trips to the USA to further his
knowledge of the latest coaching techniques. He made several trips to
Georgia Southern College, regarded as one of the top baseball colleges,
to work with their coach Jack Stallings. He always brought this
knowledge back to Waverley.
An example of his approach
was that as the State Coach, he had to teach the opposition players the
best techniques. This meant that he had to work harder and better the
next year to maintain Waverley’s position as the number one club.
Dick not only worked with
the juniors but also served on the club’s board of management for 12
years. He was made a life member of the club in 1974.
Dick was appointed Head
Coach of the club in 1978 and introduced a new approach to training and
the methods used to develop the skills of the players. This resulted in
WBC winning its first Division 1 premiership in 1980-81 and the first of
seven consecutive Club Championships.
It should have been the
start of an era but unfortunately the Commonwealth Games were scheduled
for 1982 in Brisbane and Dick was transferred to Brisbane to plan and
implement the ABC’s role as broadcasters and televisors of the event.
On his return to Melbourne
Dick again became involved with coaching, assisting Phil Dale in winning
our third and fourth Division 1 flags.
A visible record of his
coaching achievements is shown by the list of more than 50 Waverley
players he helped mould that made state junior and senior sides
including Claxton Shield representatives and the many that made the
Australian teams.
Apart from his work with
WBC Dick also served for some 10 years on the Victorian Baseball Junior
League committee.
During his short lifetime
Dick accumulated a wealth of knowledge of all sports, which, when added
to his voice, vocabulary and personality made him one of Australia’s
most forthright and colourful sporting commentators.
All who worked with him
whether in radio, baseball or sport in general respected the man, his
skills and knowledge
He was awarded the Order of
Australia Medal for services to sport and radio.
His sudden death during
heart surgery, which the day before, he described as “a little internal
plumbing” robbed our sport and the Waverley Baseball Club in particular
of a great worker and pursuer of excellence. |
