Peter "Sammy" Henderson (18 April 1926 – 24 November 2014) was a New Zealand

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

and

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer. He also competed at the

1950 British Empire Games The 1950 British Empire Games were the fourth staging of what is now called the Commonwealth Games. It was held in Auckland, New Zealand, between 4 and 11 February 1950, after a 12-year gap from the third edition of the games. A documentary fil ...

in Auckland, winning a bronze medal in the 4 x 110 yards men's relay.

Biography

Born in Gisborne and educated at Gisborne Boys' High School, Henderson made his provincial rugby union début for Hawke's Bay in 1944. Moving to

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 ...

, where he worked as a dental technician, he played rugby union for the Kaierau Club, and 26 representative matches for

. He was a member of the ill-fated 1949

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...

side, captained by

Fred Allen John Florence Sullivan (May 31, 1894 – March 17, 1956), known professionally as Fred Allen, was an American comedian. His absurdist topically-pointed radio program '' The Fred Allen Show'' (1932–1949) made him one of the most popular and forw ...

, which lost all four tests on its tour of South Africa. Henderson was top try scorer on the tour, with seven tries. Henderson excelled in several sports, including sprinting. Following his return from South Africa he had little time to change sports and get into serious sprint training for the 1950 British Empire Games in Auckland. He won a bronze medal as part of the men's 4 x 110 yards relay alongside Kevin Beardsley,

Arthur Eustace Arthur Richard Paton Eustace (22 April 1926 – 24 April 2018) was a New Zealand sprinter, athletics coach, and national and International track and field administrator. Biography In 1944, Eustace was the athletics champion of Takapuna Grammar ...

and Clem Parker. He also competed in the 100 yards where he placed fifth in the final. A medium-sized

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...

at 1.72 m and 81 kg, Henderson is still credited with being one of the fastest All Blacks of all time, with a time of 9.7 seconds for 100 yards. Henderson returned to club and representative rugby in Wanganui, playing three tests against the touring British Lions in 1950, and against them for Wanganui. In all, he played 19 matches for the All Blacks, including seven internationals. Henderson had lost his job while playing in South Africa, so he announced he was headed to England to play in professional rugby league. It was then that the New Zealand Rugby Union banned him from union, a ban which lasted 38 years. He signed with

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confl ...

, where he stayed for seven years. He played on the in

's 15–10 victory over St. Helens in the 1953 Challenge Cup Final during the 1952-53 season at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

on Saturday 25 April 1953, in front of a crowd of 89,588.McCorquodale, London S.E (25 April 1953). ''The Rugby League Challenge Cup Competition - Final Tie - Huddersfield v St. Helens - Match Programme''. Wembley Stadium Ltd. ISBN n/a He also played for the Other Nationalities side that won the 1953 tri-nations test series against England and France. Henderson played on the in Huddersfield's 18–8 victory over

Batley Batley is a market town in the Kirklees district, in West Yorkshire, England, south-west of Leeds, north-west of Wakefield and Dewsbury, south-east of Bradford and north-east of Huddersfield, in the Heavy Woollen District. In 2011, the popu ...

in the 1952 Yorkshire Cup Final during the 1952–53 season at

Headingley Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingley ...

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

on Saturday 15 November 1952.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Henderson, Peter 1926 births 2014 deaths Athletes (track and field) at the 1950 British Empire Games Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for New Zealand Hawke's Bay rugby union players Huddersfield Giants players New Zealand expatriate rugby league players in England New Zealand international rugby union players New Zealand male sprinters New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand rugby union players Other Nationalities rugby league team players People educated at Gisborne Boys' High School Rugby league players from Gisborne, New Zealand Rugby union players from Gisborne, New Zealand Rugby union wings Wanganui rugby union players Medallists at the 1950 British Empire Games New Zealand Athletics Championships winners 20th-century New Zealand sportsmen Commonwealth Games bronze medallists in athletics