Born: Northam, W.A.
28 September, 1939 – 7 November, 1974
Ray Evans made his debut for Australia in international hockey at the 1960 Rome Olympic Games and for the rest of the decade won acclaim as a dynamic, aggressive inside-forward.
Shrewd and quick-thinking, he had penchant for unsettling opposing defences with spectacular flashes of unorthodox genius. Even his team-mates found him unpredictable. Equally adept at scoring goals as he was setting them up, Evans represented Australia in more than 60 international matches between 1960 and 1969 and took part in tree Olympic Games.
He was in the team which achieved a notable first at the 1964 Tokyo Games by winning Australia’s first Olympic medal in hockey – a bronze. Four years later, in Mexico City, he added a silver medal to his trophy collection.
Evans will not be remembered for hard grafting in defence, preferring to direct his considerable talent into attacking situations. He had an uncanny ability to judge how play would unfold, a gift which enabled him usually to be in the right place at the right time.
He was an automatic selection in W.A. State teams from 1958 to 1973 and died prematurely in 1974 after experiencing bitter disappointment over missing out on representing Australia at the 1971 World Cup and 1972 Olympics.
Playing contemporaries of Ray Evans remember him as a quiet, fun-loving, world-class hockey player with a reputation for giving 100 per cent to his team, both on and off the field.