The birthday boy: Carlton great Ken Hands celebrates his 90th birthday.
Ken Hands, Carlton’s last surviving member of both the 1945 and ’47 premiership teams, turns 90 on Wednesday – and in the lead-up to the big day, club luminaries joined family and friends in celebrating the significant milestone with the former captain, coach and best and fairest.
Rarely do you see the Nicholls brothers Don and John together – but Hands originally had a hand in their recruitment to Carlton and there they were, photographed flanking their former teammate beneath his old No.1 guernsey, at a birthday gathering at Richmond at the weekend.
In a previous interview for the publication Out of the Blue, Hands reflected on the recruitment some 60 years ago of Don and his younger brother John Nicholls, the latter considered Carlton’s greatest player ever to lace a boot.
“In those days the coach, the captain, the secretary and a few others used to do the running around Victoria trying to sign players,” Hands said.
“I can recall going up there not long after Don had won the best and fairest in the Ballarat League when he was 14 or 15, and that’s who we went up to sign.
“We were at the Nicholls farm outside Primrose talking to the boys’ father when John and Don got off the bus. I can still see John now with his short pants and great big tree trunk thighs and I can remember saying to Perc Bentley, ‘God, have a look at him!’ And the old man said, ‘Well, if you get one you’ll get them both’.”
John and Don followed Hands down the race and onto Princes Park in the opening round of 1957, in what doubled as ‘Big Nick’s senior debut – and the latter learned much from the then Carlton ruckman and captain.
Left to right: John Nicholls, Ken Hands and Don Nicholls beneath Ken’s framed No.1 guernsey at Hands’ 90th birthday celebrations.
“Apart from his coaching, Ken showed me by example what a good captain should be; of the advantage it was for a team to have a strong leader – a ruckman for preference, but a leader who set an example, who will protect the players, who will kick that valuable goal when needed and will give the necessary lift to a side. Certainly Hands did this,” said Nicholls in an interview for the aforementioned book.
“In his years as coach, Ken taught me the importance of the use of the body in marking duels and ruck duels, and how to go about getting your body between your opponent and the ball.”
Also present for Hands’ 90th birthday celebrations was the former Fitzroy half-back of the 1940s and ‘50s Bill Stephen – as were Hands’ daughters Janet and Robyn, son John, grandchildren Callum, Alastair and Louise and all staff of Ken Hands Agencies.
Recruited to Carlton from amateur club Geelong Scouts, Hands’ lifelong association with the club commenced in the closing days of the Second World War. Considered one of the most significant figures in Carlton history, Hands represented the old dark Navy Blues in 211 matches between 1945 and ’57. From ’59, Hands commandeered Carlton teams from the coach’s box, taking the ’62 team to the VFL Grand Final.
Though he made way for Ron Barassi on the eve of the 1965 season, Hands’ place in Carlton history was already assured – and along the way he was rewarded with his naming in the club’s Team of the 20th century, induction into its Hall of Fame and subsequent elevation to Legend status.
More By Tony De Bolfo, Carlton Media