Ken Hall, who died on 3 May, was one of Australia’s finest middle-distance runners at a time when our middle-distance stock was almost world-class. He ran fast. Race hard. He held his own against some of the greatest players the world has ever seen.
When Al Lawrence, the 10,000m bronze medalist in Melbourne in 1956, died several years ago, I wrote that this US-based athlete, coach and running writer was perhaps the greatest Australian distance runner most readers had ever heard of.
When Ken Hall’s contemporary Graham Crouch, a 1976 Montreal Olympic 1500 finalist, died in 2019, I noted that he came from the post-John Landy-Herb Elliott-Ralph Dobell era, in which the best male middle-distance runners (few female middle-distance prospects at the time) tended to be rated lower than their glorious predecessors.
Standing on the shoulders of giants should not diminish your accomplishments, was the point. The column was headlined: “Not Landy, Not Elliott, but Very Good.” It was about Crouch, but it also applies to Ken Hall.
“Haley” as he was known to the world was a talented athlete, coach and club manager, and had a successful career as an engineer. He was a friend to many of us in the Melbourne distance scene. Two years ago, he was diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy, a malignant disease that affects walking, balance, eye movement and swallowing. After another year, he went into full-time care. To the end, he greatly enjoyed discussing athletics and the Collingwood Football Club (AFL) with visitors – he often reminisced but had a passion for contemporary news too.
Ken Hall did well in Australia – very well. He won the national junior 1500 (then under-19) title in 1970 and senior titles over the distance in 1977 and 1979. He finished second on two other occasions and third once.
But it was Europe that saw his best performances. On European track in the 1970s, you raced hard, you raced a lot and you had to race well, otherwise you went home. Hall was part of the Anzac unit with the likes of fellow Australians Crouch and Dave Fitzsimons and Kiwi legends John Walker, Dick Quax and Rod Dixon.
In an email after Fitzsimmons’ death in 2008, Rod Dixon described life on the track at the time as “tough. (I was) only as good as the last race, airfare, room and board, but ‘you had to be in the top three’, if it wasn’t the bus or the train!”
The hall was in the flight ticket, room and dining category. Charlene Rendina, the Australian women’s 800m record holder from 1976 to 2019, was also racing in Europe at the time. She remembers Ken as “a great athlete, (who) gave it his all. We ran at several race meets in Europe in ’75, along with Walker Dixon and Quax, and saw some great races with Ken in the mix.”
Two of those races stand out. Both produced world records. At Gothenburg’s Ullevi Stadium on August 12, 1975, John Walker ran 3:49.4, his first sub-3:50 mile. Ken Hall was on his heels every step of the first 1300 metres. He paid the price for his ambition – the final 309 meters took more than 19 seconds – but Hall ran his personal best over the 1,500 miles of 3:36.6 and 3:55.2.
Just four years later when Ko broke Walker’s record with a time of 3:49.0 in Oslo, Walker returned to racing, finishing sixth. So was Ken Hall, who finished 10th with a time of 3:55.27. Allowing for the ups and downs of manual versus final image registration, essentially at the same time. “The distance is validated,” Haley told some people on his return to Australia.
Jokes aside, these performances, and many others during this period, also validated Hall’s affiliation with the best miners in the world.
Around this time, Haley purchased the house on Clifton Hill in Melbourne’s inner north that would become his “forever” home. the address? Walker Street: I’m sure Haley has been reminded of this “coincidence” about two million times!
Let’s just say Ken Hall belongs on Walker Street, and does this, and leave it at that.
But it is unfortunate that Ken Hall’s international form did not translate into major tournament selection. He was named to the 1976 Olympic team before the Australian Olympic Association dropped him and eight others from selection for the sport. In 1978, the Australian Commonwealth Games Federation decided that they could not select Olympic finalists Crouch nor Hall at the 1500 because the team was selected on the basis of medal potential. Some ordinary athletes were selected, and two world-class Australian athletes were excluded.
In these more inclusive times, Haley would certainly be an Olympian (in 1976, and perhaps in 1980 as well) and a Commonwealth Games representative. As it was, his only national song came when he was a late selection to the All-Pacific Conference Games team in 1981.
Like most of his contemporaries, Haley never “retired” from running, but once his peak days were over, he turned to coaching at club level. His club, the East Melbourne Harriers, merged around the same time with Essendon. Ken has coached Liam Adams, a three-time Olympic marathon runner, three-time Commonwealth Games champion and nine-time world cross-country representative, and Mitch Brown, a two-time world cross-country champion and 2013 national cross-country champion, among many others.
Adams, in particular, gave Haley the representation in the Australian jersey that he so richly deserved. Josh Fender, another Essendon athlete and coaching officer, organized a support group for Ken during his final illness, coordinated by sisters Shirley and Lynette and niece Vicky, which led to numerous visits to his care centre.
His fellow athletes always knew Ken was an engineer and that he worked for VicRoads through its various courses, but he also studied economics and took an MBA in pursuit of further qualifications. Finally, he worked as a consultant, passing on his experience to others. He was honored with the Distinguished Service Award from the International Traffic Engineers Australia and New Zealand Branch. The award specifically noted his mentoring and support of engineering students. Not just athletics, then.
The disease that took Ken Hall away was rapid and insidious in its progression. Just over two years ago, he was still a regular at our favorite Domain café after a Saturday morning run/walk at The Tan. Although he was on a walking frame, he continued for some time with one or other of us which helped him get back to Walker Street. From there, it was full-time care until the final days for less than a year.
Through it all, Kane never bemoaned his fate. Loss of mobility is particularly impactful in elite athletes. Even when his ability to respond coherently diminished his joy at hearing the news, especially regarding athletics and football, it was evident. His passing is a loss to Australian Athletics.
As one participant in our chat group said: “What a sad way to end his life! He was a quiet man and a very humble human being.”
