John Daly

John Alfred Daly OAM (7 August 1936 – 11 March 2018) was an Australian academic physical educator, sports historian and Australian Olympic athletics coach.

Academic career Daly was a graduate of the University of Adelaide. He was appointed to Adelaide Teachers College in 1961 after three years teaching at Lefevre Boys Technical High School. The University of Adelaide physical education diploma course was transferred to the College in 1968 and Daly designed and headed a four-year degree course. After his retirement, he returned to his love of drawing and painting and exhibited his works of art. Commonwealth Games - 1974 (Coach) IAAF World Championships - 1983, 1991 (Manager) In 1978, Daly was a founding member of the Australian Coaching Council. From 1979 to 1981, he was the chairman of the Council's Technical Committee which introduced a national coaching accreditation scheme based on Canada's model.

Administration In 1976, after Australia's poor performance at the Montreal Olympics, Daly wrote an open letter in The Australian titled Courageous Amateurs Must Fail. This controversial letter argued that the Australian sports system was out of date and it was not the athletes and coaches' fault for poor results in Montreal.

He was a member of the Australian Government's Sport Advisory Council from 1979 to 1984. In 1991, he authored the book Quest for Excellence: the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra which detailed the first ten years of the AIS.

He married athlete Judy Tapfield, a South Australian state, national and international Masters champion and a member of Adelaide Harriers, in 1976. Judy Daly died on 1 November 2017.

John died on 11 March 2018, aged 81, in Hahndorf, South Australia. 1993 - Athletics Australia Honorary Life Member 1993 - Elected as a Corresponding Fellow in the prestigious National Academy of Kinesiology, USA (formerly the American Academy of Physical Education, and before that the American Academy of Physical Education. South Australian Olympic Committee Order of Merit