Flashback Friday – Five Benoni sporting heroes
Go back in time with the Benoni City Times. Every Friday our website www.benonicitytimes.co.za takes you back to the old days with nostalgic clippings from our newspaper archives.
This week we take a look at some of the sportspeople who have put Benoni on the sporting map over the years.
A heartfelt thank you must go out to founder of the ‘Benoni – Now and Then’ Facebook page, Glynis Cox Millett-Clay for this week’s clippings.
1. Denis Lindsay (cricketer) played 19 Tests for South Africa between 1963 and 1970. Benoni’s cricket lovers have fond memories of the wicketkeeper and this was just one of many articles that appeared in the BCT (this one in 1967):
2. Springbok tumbler and gymnast Cindy Hollis (now Mc Call Peat) was Benoni’s Sportsman of the Year in 1982.
3. The Benoni City Times paid tribute to figure skater Arthur “The Blur” Apfel in this clipping from November 18, 1988. He was regarded as the best fastest figure skater spinner in the world in the mid-1940s.
4. Benoni boxer Brian Mitchell is regarded by many as the best boxer that South Africa ever produced. His record stands at 49 wins (45 by knock-out), one loss and three draws. This clipping from the Benoni City Times of October 21, 1988, covered the visit of his special guest appearance at a Christian gathering at the Benoni Town Hall.
5. Frith van der Merwe is undoubtedly one of the greatest female distance runners that the country has ever seen. She competed in the Comrades Marathon in the late 1980s and early 1990s with astonishing success, setting records for both the up and down runs, one of which was still standing in 2013. Her 1989 record time of 3:30:36 in the 56 km Two Oceans Marathon also still stands. This clipping from the BCT of June 9, 1989, paid tribute to Benoni’s road superstar.
