Ann Stephens in her heyday. Photo supplied.
Ann Stephens, previously of Oamaru, has been inducted
into the New Zealand Squash Hall of Fame.
She was inducted on November 25 at the Remuera Racquets Club,
along with Norm Coe, Pam Davis and Paul Steel.
Stephens, formerly Ann Mckenzie, was the leading New Zealand
women's squash player for 15 years, winning five national
titles between 1956 and 1963, and representing her country
from 1960 to 1968.
She was also part of Mitchell Cup-winning teams from Oamaru
and Hamilton, where she relocated about 50 years ago in her
late 20s, and likely would have an even more impressive
record had she not split her time between squash and
badminton, at which she was also a national champion.
In 1957, for example, she played in both sports' national
championships on the same weekend.
Speaking from her Hamilton home, she described her success as
a combination of natural ability and circumstance.
"I think I was a little bit natural. It just managed to click
for me," she said.
"It was quiet easy for me in a way because both sports were
in the same building in Oamaru. I went from one to the other
in the same night."
She paid tribute to the late Roy Mitchell, a benefactor of
Oamaru and New Zealand squash, who had funded the dual
complex in Oamaru's Tyne St, described by Stephens as "one of
the best badminton facilities in New Zealand at the time".
Stephens has only recently hung up the last of her racquets.
"I was playing tennis until about two to three years ago, but
I thought I'd had a pretty good innings," she said.
The New Zealand Squash Hall of Fame was formed in 2009, and
now has 20 members, including Dame Susan Devoy.
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