UK pole vault champion Ian Ward dies

[rainbowgirl28]

http://www.prestontoday.net/ViewArticle ... id=1383629

Tributes paid to city's pole vault champion
TRIBUTES have been paid to a popular sports star who died after a short illness.
Former British pole vault champion, Dr Ian Ward, died from kidney failure in hospital. He was 77.

Dr Ward was born at Sharoe Green Hospital and grew up in Penwortham with his sister, Sylvia.

His father, Frank Ward, was a professional footballer for Preston North End.

Dr Ward attended Hutton Grammar School, where he excelled at sports.

A successful career as both an athlete and an academic followed.

He dedicated his life to athletics but also played rugby for Preston Grasshoppers for a short time.

He was married to Rochdale girl and north of England cross-country champion Marjorie Knott in 1958.

She went on to become a teacher. She died 13 years ago.

Dr Ward focused on pole vaulting at a time when competitors used solid metal poles and landed on sand or grass.

He was well known at sports events, competing regularly at Lakeland and Scottish Games.

His dedication to the sport was rewarded in both 1956 and 1957 when he became the British Pole Vault Champion. He went on to compete for England in the 1958 Commonwealth Games.

On his retirement from competitive athletics he became a national athletics coach before moving into education.

He lectured in physical education from 1964 to 1970 and later went on to become director of the sports faculty at Liverpool University, developing sports education and coaching techniques.

During his career he worked in New Zealand, Taiwan, Canada and Mauritius, training coaches and developing sports education.

He returned to Lancashire for a brief time when he was teaching and lived in Penwortham and then Croston, near Chorley.

Dr Ward wrote a number of text books for athletes and coaches.

Continuing his academic career, he finished a doctorate during his retirement.

For the last three years he had lived in Todmorden, West Yorkshire, with his daughter Sally, 40.

His other daughter, Becky, 43, who lives in Skipton, West Yorkshire, said today: “We will remember dad for his dry sense of humour and for introducing us to travel, adventure, sports and enjoying life to the full.

“We have been talking about the silly things he used to do and say. He loved telling people that he skated all the way up the canal from Preston to Lancaster when it was frozen!â€Â