John Barry joined the Pakuranga Tennis Club in 1987.  He was on the Committee for 10 years before becoming President from 1999-2002, and was made a Life Member in 2011. He spent many years as the club’s delegate to Tennis Auckland. A notable achievement during John’s presidential reign was the revival of the Hughes Cup (our annual competition against Howick) and organising the revival get together, hosted by Lynly.

John did however have a longer and much wider history in playing, officiation and administration.

His involvement with tennis began when he met Lynly.  She and her family had had a lifelong involvement with tennis and the Ellerslie Tennis Club.  John knew that if he was going to marry Lynly then he had no option but to become involved in tennis.  They married in Ellerslie in 1964 and so the tennis journey began. He joined the Ellerslie Tennis Club and went on to become President and life member there and also to became President of the Manukau Tennis Association.

In 1973 John and Lynly became involved with the major Auckland tennis events and both became qualified as ATUA and NZTUA officials. John worked at the International tournaments as a line umpire and chair umpire.  Lynly once said how would you like it if your husband in the umpire’s chair over-ruled your line call.  Those of us who knew John well, suspect he might have enjoyed that incident quite a lot.

In 1982 John became one of New Zealand’s first qualified MIPTC (Men’s International Professional Tennis Council) Tennis Officials, enabling him to officiate overseas.  He went on to umpire and referee at various World Group Davis Cup Ties’ through to Semifinal rounds. These events were held throughout Australia, India and Asia.  He represented NZ as an Official at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and the 1988 Seoul Olympics.  He’s worked at the Australian Sydney Indoors, and the 1989 Australian Open. At the 1987 Wimbledon Championships, he worked as a umpire and line umpire. His officiating highlight was when he was on the line for the Women’s Final.

Closer to home he was involved as an umpire and/or referee for the ATP Men’s and the WTA Ladies ASB Classic Tournaments held in Auckland each January. This also includes events such as the ITF Juniors and ITF Futures events. Along with officiating, John was also involved in the hospitality area of these major events including the hosting of overseas officials during the tournaments. 

John was President of Tennis Auckland in 2003/04 and his long history of dedication to tennis was recognised with a Life Membership of the NZ Tennis Umpires Association in 2005 followed by a Life Membership of Tennis Auckland in 2018.

While many members will have only known John in later years when he was no longer as physically able, it is important to remember that as well as being involved in administration he was also an active player of our club.  He regularly took part in interclub, tournaments and social tennis.  He enjoyed both the play and the company although he was heard to remark that it annoyed him in tight interclub matches that the opposition tended to call the ball out when it was actually in.  A reminder perhaps to Lynly that John’s calling was always ‘spot on’.

Our sympathies go out to Lynly and the family but it may be of some comfort for them to know that John’s place in the history of Tennis Pakuranga is secure and will be well remembered.

John’s funeral will be held at All Saints Church, Cook Street, Howick. Saturday 17th October at 11.30am, for anyone who would like to attend.