Albert Archibald Jelley (born 13 August 1922) is a New Zealand athletics coach who has coached leading New Zealand athletes including John Walker and Hamish Carson. He has been an athletics coach for over six decades and coached at Olympic level up until his mid-90s. Jelley has also been a teacher, an athletics administrator, and a

bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

tutor.

Biography

Personal life

Jelley was born in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

on 13 August 1922, into a family that was heavily involved in sport. His father, Albert Edward Jelley, was a first-class cricket umpire. Arch Jelley has siblings: Charley, Mary, Stan and Effie. Jelley was a pupil at Mornington School from 1927 to 1935, and joined the Mornington Harrier Club at the age of 18. Jelley married Rachel in 1953, and she was his partner until her death in 2000. In 2002, Jelley married Jean, whom he had met through playing bridge, and between them have eight children, 16 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. Jelley celebrated his

100th birthday 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

in August 2022, saying: "Turning 100 doesn't feel any different than how I've ever felt – I think it's just a bit of a shock when you first look at that number".

Teaching career

Having served in the Royal New Zealand Naval Volunteer Reserve during World War II acquiring a commissioned officer rank deployed on Russian Convoy duties, Jelley returned to New Zealand to begin studies at Dunedin Teachers' College and at the

University of Otago The University of Otago () is a public university, public research university, research collegiate university based in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. Founded in 1869, Otago is New Zealand's oldest university and one of the oldest universities in ...

. He began his teaching career in rural

Wanganui Whanganui, also spelt Wanganui, is a list of cities in New Zealand, city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest nav ...

and then moved to

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

. In January 1957, he moved to

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

. In 1966, he became the founding principal of Sunnybrae Normal School on the North Shore. Jelley served as principal at Sunnybrae for more than 20 years.

Coaching career

Jelley began coaching athletics in 1957. He took Neville Scott to the

5000 metres The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a sta ...

final at the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this honor was subseq ...

and helped

Ian Studd Ian Spurgeon Studd (born 1943) is a former middle-distance runner from New Zealand. In 1966, Studd competed at the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Jamaica, winning the bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other sim ...

win bronze in the mile at the

1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games The 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games were held in Kingston, Jamaica, from 4 to 13 August 1966. This was the first time that the Games had been held outside the so-called White Dominions. The event was followed by the 1966 Commonweal ...

. At the

1976 Montreal Olympics The 1976 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Montreal 1976 (), were an international multi-sport event held from July 17 to August 1, 1976, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal w ...

, in addition to John Walker, Jelley also coached

Rod Dixon Rodney Phillip Dixon (born 13 July 1950) is a former New Zealand middle- to long-distance runner. He won the bronze medal in the 1500 metres at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, and in 1983 won the New York City Marathon. Biography Dixon was ...

and

Dick Quax Theodorus Jacobus Leonardus "Dick" Quax (1 January 1948 – 28 May 2018) was a Dutch-born New Zealand runner, one-time world record holder in the 5000 metres, and local-body politician. Quax stood for Parliament for the ACT Party in 199 ...

. Jelley has coached dozens of other leading athletes during his career, including 1988 Seoul Olympic 3000 m runner

Christine Pfitzinger Christine Joy Pfitzinger (née Hughes; born 24 January 1959) is a New Zealand former middle-distance runner. She represented New Zealand at the 1988 Summer Olympics, where she competed in the 3000 metres. She represented New Zealand in the 19 ...

, two-time Olympic distance runner

Robbie Johnston Robert Ian Johnston (born 21 August 1967 in Balclutha) is a former long-distance runner from New Zealand who competed twice at the Summer Olympic Games and once at the Commonwealth Games. At the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona Barcelon ...

, 1987 World Championship marathoner Hazel Stewart, 1990 Commonwealth 10,000 m bronze medallist Barbara Moore, 1978 Commonwealth Games middle-distance representatives Dennis Norris and

Alison Wright Alison Wright (born 12 July 1976) is an English actress. She is best known for her starring role as Martha Hanson on the FX period spy drama series ''The Americans'' (2013–2017), for which she received critical acclaim and a Primetime Emmy ...

, and former US mile record-holder Steve Scott, who was fifth in the 1988 Olympic 1500 m final. Jelley retired from coaching in 2000, to put more time into bridge and lawn bowls. However, five years later, he agreed to coach Hamish Carson, who subsequently represented New Zealand at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

in the

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1500-metre run is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletics since 1983. It is equivalent to 1.5 kilomet ...

. Jelley retired from coaching once more in 2018.

Mt Albert Bridge Club

Jelley's first wife Rachel knew he was a keen card player and encouraged him to attend the Mt Albert Bridge Club, where he has been involved since 1990. He has been a tutor since 1996 and was president for ten years from 2003.

Honours and awards

In the

1982 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1982 were appointments by most of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to Orders and decorations of the Commonwealth realms, various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countrie ...

, Jelley was appointed an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

, for services to athletics. Along with

Arthur Lydiard Arthur Leslie Lydiard (6 July 1917 – 11 December 2004) was a New Zealand runner and athletics coach. He has been lauded as one of the outstanding athletics coaches of all time and is credited with popularising the sport of running and makin ...

, he was one of four coaches inducted into the New Zealand Coaches Hall of Fame. In 1987, he was awarded an International Amateur Athletic Federation Diploma. In 2007, Jelley received a Sparc lifetime achievement award for coaching excellence, and an

Athletics New Zealand Athletics New Zealand (ANZ) is the national governing body for athletics (sport), athletics in New Zealand. This includes responsibility for Track and field, cross country running, road running and racewalking. History The organisation was fou ...

merit award in 2009. Jelley was appointed a

Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit () is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have ...

in the 2021 New Years Honours, for his work as a coach and an administrator in athletics and bridge.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jelley, Arch 1922 births Living people New Zealand athletics coaches Olympic coaches for New Zealand New Zealand Officers of the Order of the British Empire Companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit Sportspeople from Dunedin New Zealand contract bridge players Contract bridge administrators Schoolteachers from Dunedin New Zealand men centenarians Dunedin College of Education alumni