McCoy, Alan 'Bill'

Alan "Bill" Winston McCoy (often misspelt as ‘McKoy’) was born in Geraldine on 13 January 1906. When his family moved to Auckland, he attended Auckland Grammer School. Later he commenced work as a bank clerk and would remain in the industry for the rest of his working career.
Known to everyone as ‘Bill’, he was a talented sportsman, excelling at golf and particularly cricket. He played ten first-class cricket matches for Auckland from 1929 to 1937. That year he married Zita (nee Saunders), and he accepted a promotion to the National Bank’s New Plymouth branch. His first-class career was over, but he continued to play cricket with a lot of success, for the New Plymouth Old Boys’ club and the Taranaki representative team.
On his arrival in New Plymouth, there was much newspaper comment about his cricket abilities. These were perhaps best displayed in a club game on Pukekura Park in January 1938. The game became known as ‘McCoy’s match’. He scored 124 and took 7 for 65 (and 10 wickets in the game), a rare honours board achievement with both bat and ball in the same game. It was described in one newspaper as “one of the finest double performances ever recorded in New Plymouth club cricket.”
Bill and Zita lived at 3 Weymouth Street while in New Plymouth, before moving to Wellington in 1941. There, he joined the army, serving overseas in World war Two and rising to the rank of sergeant. He was twice wounded in action and, captured in April 1943, became a prisoner of war at Stalag VII-A near Moosburg, Germany.
He was eventually freed and, before the war ended, transferred back to New Zealand. He settled in Auckland once again, recommencing his career in the banking industry.
Bill McCoy died on 1 January 1980.

Books

The Honours Board by Brian Beer. Page 137 et al.