Fred's Dedication Honoured
Helen Nash reports
A Harrogate freelance journalist has received national recognition
for his squash writing.
Fred Willis, 67, was presented with an award on Saturday for
his outstanding contribution to the world of squash. The
presentation was made on court at the National Squash Centre in
Manchester during the National Championships.
 Fred,
who is also a Harrogate councillor, has written a weekly column on
squash for 40 years for the Yorkshire Evening Post in Leeds.
He started playing squash at Headingley Squash Club and at Armley
Squash club and latterly at Moortown.
Fred was first asked to write a column about squash each week after
the squash boom hit Leeds in the Sixties.
It is the longest running column in the newspaper, and in that time
has only failed to appear once, when Fred, who was going on holiday,
left the report in the care of the Editor, who forgot to put it in!
A highlight of Fred's career was promoting the call for a squash
league in Leeds. He asked for volunteers to help via his column and
the Leeds Metro League, which still runs today, was the
result.
One of the highlights of his career was playing a match against
showbiz star Tommy Steele who agreed to face Fred on the
squash courts at Moortown.
Tommy was a player of county standard and won the match, but not
until Fred had taken a game off his five-star rival.
Fred has also met a host of squash stars down the years from the
famous Jonah Barrington in the Sixties to the current
Yorkshire trio of James Willstrop, Nick Matthew and
Jenny Duncalf, the latter two taking their respective national
crowns this week.
"Fred Willis is a kind
of unsung hero for squash which is why we wanted to recognise his
great contribution.
"To produce weekly reports on squash for such a long time is a real
labour of love – and we're hugely indebted to him."
England Squash & Racketball CEO |
"I had no idea something was being
planned until just a short time before the event at the National
Squash Championships at their base in Manchester."
"Squash does suffer from a lack of publicity. I am very lucky I
worked for a paper that recognised a lot of people play squash.
"Journalists are a bit hard-bitten and we report other people
receiving awards but when it happens to you you're not quite ready
for it as the tables have been turned. It was a very good day."
"Yorkshire is a very strong area as folk like thumping a ball
against a wall very hard, and it's still the place to be if you want
to see the best home-grown stars!"
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