| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Birth name | Nikola Unkovich | ||||||||||||||
| Born | 15 January 1923 Korčula, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (present-day Croatia) | ||||||||||||||
| Died | 21 July 2005 (aged 82) Auckland, New Zealand | ||||||||||||||
| Spouse |
Joy Auld (m. 1951) | ||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||
| Country | New Zealand | ||||||||||||||
| Sport | Lawn bowls | ||||||||||||||
| Club | Matamata Bowling Club Okahu Bay Bowling Club Rawhiti Bowling Club | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||
.svg.png.webp){kind=icon}
Nikola Unkovich (15 January 1923 – 21 July 2005),[1] generally known as Nick Unkovich, was a New Zealand international lawn bowler.[2]
Early life and family
Unkovich was born in 1923 on the island of Korčula in present-day Croatia, and migrated to New Zealand with his parents in 1932, settling in Northland.[1] In 1951, he married Joy Auld in Auckland, and the couple went on to have two children.[1]
Bowls career
Unkovich started bowling at the Matamata Bowling Club, after moving to nearly Waharoa to establish a grocery business.[1] He played for the Okahu Bay Bowling Club in Auckland from the mid 1970s, and then the Rawhiti Club in Remuera in later years.[1]
He won a bronze medal in the triples at the 1980 World Outdoor Bowls Championship in Melbourne.[3]
He won ten New Zealand National Bowls Championships titles, one singles (1979), one pairs (1991) with Ross Haresnape and eight fours titles between 1971 and 1986.[4]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 Torbit, Matthew (28 July 2005). "Spirited bowler and master of sledging". Dominion Post. p. 7.
- ↑ "Profile". Bowls tawa.
- ↑ Newby, Donald (1991). Bowls Yearbook 91. Telegraph Publications. ISBN 0-330-31664-8.
- ↑ "Bowls: Charismatic champion was also a great teacher". New Zealand Herald. 22 July 2005. Retrieved 14 April 2019.