Hall of Fame honour for greyhound industry stalwart Chris Williams

By Andrew Smith

From saving the Townsville Greyhound Racing Club from the brink of extinction, to helping build Ipswich into a hugely successful venue for the sport – Chris Williams undoubtedly left his mark on the greyhound code in Queensland.

For his decades of dedication, the late industry stalwart was inducted into the Queensland Greyhound Hall of Fame at the recent Queensland Greyhound Awards.

With Chris sadly passing away at the age of 78 in November last year, the honour was accepted on his behalf by son Dan Norris-Williams at The W Brisbane.

The long-time dog man held various roles across the industry throughout his career, helping several clubs find financial stability, as well as serving on the-then Queensland Greyhound Racing Board.

Dan said his father would have been proud to see his name standing alongside some of the Sunshine State’s greats.

“He'd be humbled, because he was a humble man, but honoured and probably appreciated,” Dan said.

“We are very, very proud and we were a bit emotional instantly - Mum started crying and couldn't even get on the stage.

“My sister Mel too, she's very emotional tonight - as a family we are so proud to accept the award, he was a figure in the industry for many years and I've been in the industry for 45 years because of Dad.

“He would be no prouder now than of what he's achieved on nights at the Ipswich Greyhound Club.

“In saying that, he couldn't achieve that without my mum being beside him and doing everything at the Ipswich club.”

Originally from the UK, Chris trained his first dog at the Gabba in the late 1970s.

He was an inaugural member of the Ipswich Greyhound Club committee, and also held the roles of secretary, general manager and president over the years.

Such was his love for the Ipswich greyhounds, Chris married wife Tina at the track in 1988.

Dan recalled with fondness how his father was determined to see the club thrive, and how he had been passionate about promoting the Ipswich Showgrounds venue.

It was that love that also saw Chris reach into his own pocket to ensure the club survived after being on the brink of collapsing in 1986.

“His passion was greyhound racing, and he was all about saying to people ‘you want a night out? You don’t want to go anywhere else, the night out is the greyhounds,” Dan said.

“He was instrumental, but he had a committee behind him of Doug Ballinger, Graham Haswell and a few others that would just give tooth and nail in a voluntary capacity back in the day.

“They were pretty much broke, and not a lot of people know this, but Dad mortgaged his house to the National Bank to float Ipswich.

“They were in debt, and he got that rolling to basically fight out of that and get it going.

“This award is not just for him - It's for the Ipswich committee and people like Donny Bobden who has passed away.

“It's an award for the Ipswich club that was established in 1982 that fought back from the brink and become something.”

Williams also set up Ipswich's Puppy Auction Series which helped the club bring in some much-needed funding.

His services as an astute businessman also saw him called up to North Queensland to help save the greyhound club in Townsville from collapsing.

“Townsville was going to get shut down, and Dad and Danny Ryan flew up there and fought for Townsville to survive,” Dan said.

“I know that's fact that Townsville wouldn't be around without my dad and Danny Ryan.”

Former Townsville Greyhound president Gary Heath testified to Chris’ contribution to ensuring the survival of greyhound racing in the city.

Fittingly, the new RQ Board Member was the one to announce the stalwart’s induction into the Hall of Fame.

“Chris was a lot before my time when I came into greyhounds, but when I became the Townsville president, I got involved with Chris at the time,” Heath said.

“The things that I heard about Chris in the times I wouldn't even have been president, because he did save Townsville Greyhound club, and that's why it's in existence today.

“So it was such a privilege to actually announce that tonight....it was just such an honour that I got to induct him into the Hall of Fame.

“It's great to see that an RQ representative actually gets put into the Hall of Fame, because I think that is forgotten a lot with how much work they do behind the scenes and that's why the industry is such a success.”

While greyhound racing has since moved on from the Ipswich Showgrounds to The Q, Dan believes his father would love the new home of greyhound racing at Purga.

He also believes Chris would relish seeing the future of the sport in safe hands with the next generation of trainers in Queensland.

“To see the youth in the room is the way forward…there’s people like Michael Zammit, Tommy Tzouvelis, and myself who are getting a bit old but people like Jemma Daley and Riley Davis, they’re the way forward,” Dan said.

“They are the ones that if we want to succeed as an industry, we have the opportunity to.

“We aren't like New Zealand, we aren't like Tasmania, and we are so lucky to have an exceptional racing venue like The Q.

“Yes there might be a few things to tweak, but the end of day, we've got an $85 million facility to grow the sport forward.”