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The President, Board and Staff of Golf Victoria express their deepest sympathy at the passing of much loved and respected former Victorian Golf Association Council Member, Mr. John McAllister, aged 83 years who passed away peacefully at Cobram hospital on Friday 29 April.
John was a long-time member of the Northern Golf Club, including serving a term as Club Captain from 1981 to 1983, and following retirement was more recently a member of the Cobram-Barooga Golf Club.
John was elected to the VGA Council in 1985. In his ten years of VGA service, he made a significant contribution, particularly in the areas of Junior Development; Events and High Performance. John also managed a number of Victorian State Boys and Men’s teams over that time. He retired from the VGA Council at the 1995 Annual Meeting but stayed actively involved through participating in senior golf for many years thereafter.
Golf Victoria’s sincere condolences are extended to partner of 26 years, Nancy Cope; his children Kerry, Peter, Michael and Mark and respective grandchildren and step-children at this time. John was a thorough gentleman with a passion for golf and will be sadly missed.
The following moving tribute to John has been received from former VGA Council member and fellow Northern member, Michael Church and is reproduced with thanks in respect of John’s long time involvement with Northern Golf Club.
John who passed away recently joined Northern in 1949 aged 17 and was the last of a long line of McAllister’s who all have made significant contributions to Northern. He was a member for 68 years.
Mel McAllister joined the Club in 1931 and his brother Noel in 1932, their sons respectively Jack and John went on to become Club Champions. Mel was captain from 1942 -1944 and president from 1947 -1950. Noel also served on the committee for many years.
Through the family John had great golf credentials and regularly played with the members of the famous 1940 pennant team. He was particularly impressed by the brilliance of Barney Sullivan who could hit the ball miles. John was club captain from 1981-1983, four times club champion between 1968-1979 and a Victorian Golf Association councillor for more than 10 years.
John captained the Northern pennant teams for a number of years and remembers Sir Garfield Sobers as a useful team member in 1980. John was quite proud to have been captain over Gary Sobers.
In his time as a VGA councillor John had the honour to manage state teams on interstate trips which included Robert Allenby, Stuart Appleby and Richard Green. John who had a particular interest in Junior golf development advised club and state junior players not to consider turning pro until they could beat Allenby, Appleby and Green.
John was awarded Honorary Membership of Northern when he moved to Cobram in 1996 and maintained his links with the Club. The McAllister name will be sadly missed from the syllabus where it has been easily found for the past 85 years. However the McAllister’s will be remembered each year in the winter when the McAllister Cup is played. While tournament is named after Mel it will to members serve as a recognition of the family, eight of whom were Northern members, and their long involvement with Northern Golf Club. John was an outstanding member of Northern Golf Club.