Bert Grace
Full name | Bert Augustus Grace | ||||||||||||||||
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Date of birth | 29 April 1912 | ||||||||||||||||
Place of birth | Sydney, NSW, Australia | ||||||||||||||||
Date of death | 28 March 1982 | (aged 69)||||||||||||||||
Place of death | Vaucluse, NSW, Australia | ||||||||||||||||
Height | 6 ft 1 in (185 cm) | ||||||||||||||||
Weight | 178 lb (81 kg) | ||||||||||||||||
School | Cranbrook School | ||||||||||||||||
Occupation(s) | Retail executive | ||||||||||||||||
Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||
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Bert Augustus Grace DFC (29 April 1912 — 28 March 1982), also known as Mick Grace, was an Australian retail executive and international rugby union player.[1][2]
Biography
Born in Sydney, Grace was the only son of Albert Edward Grace, co-founder of the Grace Bros department store chain.[3]
Grace played rugby during his time at the Cranbrook School and afterwards competed as a centre for Sydney club Eastern Suburbs, winning a premiership in 1931. Following impressive performances for NSW in the 1932 Wallabies trials, Grace won an international call up for the 1933 tour of South Africa, selected to play on the right wing. He featured in five of the first eight tour matches in the lead up to the first Test, but his positional rival Doug McLean was preferred to play against the Springboks. By the end of the trip, Grace had played in ten tour matches, scoring four tries.[3]
After the death of his father in 1938, Grace took over as chairman of Grace Bros. He flew with a Kittyhawk fighter squadron of the RAAF No. 82 Squadron during the war and was promoted to squadron leader. In 1944, Grace was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross for his war service. He continued to head Grace Bros up until his death in 1982.[4]
References
- ^ "Union Tourist In Hospital". The Labor Daily. 12 October 1932. p. 3 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ Davies, Will (1 September 2010). "The Roar of the Kittyhawk". Battle for Australia commemoration. The History Channel.
- ^ a b "Bert Augustus ('Mick') Grace". Classic Wallabies.
- ^ "OBITUARY Grace Bros head dies, aged 69". The Canberra Times. 30 March 1982. p. 12 – via National Library of Australia.
- 1912 births
- 1982 deaths
- Australian rugby union players
- Australia international rugby union players
- Rugby union players from Sydney
- Rugby union centres
- Rugby union wings
- Eastern Suburbs RUFC players
- People educated at Cranbrook School, Sydney
- Royal Australian Air Force personnel of World War II
- Royal Australian Air Force officers
- Australian recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom)
- Australian business executives
- Australian businesspeople in retailing
- New South Wales rugby union team players