John was admitted into Pretoria Boys High School on 16th January 1950 and on leaving in 1956 had achieved many distinctions both on and off the sporting field.
He was in Sunnyside House, being Head in 1956, and on leaving said “Above all, I will miss my place as a member of Sunnyside House. Although not always the top dog, Sunnyside has shown fight which is not often equalled. Whether on the sports field, or in another side of school life, the House has combined to form a unit which does credit to Boys’ High. One aspect which I shall not forget is the great sportsmanship shown when beaten and the modest attitude taken when success has been achieved.”
In both 1955 and 1956 he was a School Prefect and was awarded his 1st XI cricket and 1st XV rugby colours. He appeared for the athletics team in 1955 and 2nd tennis team in 1955 and 1956 and represented North-Eastern Transvaal Schoolboys in the January 1956 and January 1957 Nuffield Cricket Weeks. In 1956 he was awarded his Transvaal Secondary School Certificate – University Pass.
After leaving PBHS he continued to excel at sport. He was a right-hand batsman and slow left-arm bowler being selected for the South African Universities cricket team in 1959. He played forty-three first-class matches (including forty-two games for North-Eastern Transvaal of which nine were as captain) scoring 2045 runs (avg 26.21) which included one hundred and ten fifties. He took 21 wickets (avg 25.04) with his best first-class bowling analysis 3/21 against Eastern Province at Port Elizabeth in December 1964 and also held 38 catches. His highest first-class score was 130 (second innings) against Orange Free State at Benoni in January 1961. He captained the side and opened the batting (scoring 40 in the first innings) helping his brother Peter (32 and 53) of add 69 and then 154 runs for the third wicket partnership. He played for North-Eastern Transvaal against the touring New Zealanders in 1961/62, the MCC in 1964/65 and the Australians (scoring 95 out of 297) in 1966/67. He also played for many other sides including Pretoria Colts XI (cricket) in 1957, Pretoria Colts “A” (Hockey) 1957, Old Boys (cricket) 1st XI, Old Boys (hockey) 1st XI being on the tour to Europe in 1971, Old Boys badminton club , Pretoria “A” and Pretoria “B” (hockey), Transvaal (hockey) and played against Spain in 1967.
A lot of games John played in were alongside his younger brother, Peter. In cricket John opened the batting and Peter batted at No.3 whilst in hockey John played left inner and Peter centre forward. Both were highly competitive and Peter has fond memories of the verbal sporting banter between them. Peter maintained his own sporting achievements would not have happened without the assistance of John. This was not only at provincial level but went right back to their early cricket games in the backyard. Each game was treated like a World Cup Final !After retiring from cricket, John acted as selector for both the Northern Transvaal Schools Nuffield XI and both the senior North-Eastern Transvaal and later Northern Transvaal provincial teams. He served on the North-Eastern Transvaal cricket committee, the Old Boys cricket club committee being secretary, then chairman and later president. He served on the Old Boys badminton committee, was a director on the Old Boys Association and was a Member of the School Management Council.
John qualified as a quantity surveyor and joined a professional firm in Pretoria. He remained in the profession throughout his working life and retired as a highly respected senior partner.
Following retirement he developed a passion for birding and he and his mates trudged vast areas in the Kruger and other African countries in search of seeing rare specimens.
He married Patricia Banyard (sister of Ian – who also played first-class cricket for North-Eastern Transvaal) in February 1966. They had two sons, Glen and Mark, whom also attended PBHS. Both have excelled in their chosen careers, Glen graduating with a commercial law degree and Mark with a chartered accounting degree. John was a devoted grandfather to his four grandsons (Alex and Daniel to Glen and Joshua and Sam to Mark, with Mark expecting a third son in February 2011).
John died in his sleep of heart failure at his home in Pretoria.