Merv Corner

Mervyn Miles Nelson Corner (5 July 1908 – 3 February 1992) was a New Zealand rugby union player, sporting administrator, and bank executive.

Biography

Born in Auckland in 1908, Corner was educated at Auckland Grammar School. In 1938 he married Ira May Ardley in the Auckland suburb of Devonport, and the couple went on to have three children: Peter Mervyn Corner, Joan Ira (Reeves), and Pamela Joyce (Donnelly).

A rugby union halfback, Corner represented Auckland at a provincial level, and was a member of the New Zealand national side, the All Blacks, from 1930 to 1936. He played 25 matches for the All Blacks including six internationals, and captained the team in one game, against London Counties on the 1935–36 tour of Britain, Ireland and Canada. and in December 1944, when he held the rank of captain, he was awarded the Military Cross in recognition of gallant and distinguished services in the southwest Pacific. He later reached the rank of lieutenant colonel. Corner was under the command of the US army in Fiji and was awarded the Purple Heart for bravery in surviving a mortar attack that deafened him in his right ear. His family believe that he was one of two non-American militia to be awarded this honour in WWII.

Corner was prominent as a sporting administrator, serving as a member of the New Zealand Racing Authority for 12 years, the Eden Park Trust Board and the Totalisator Agency Board, also for 12 years. and president of the Auckland Rugby Football Union from 1959 to 1961. He also served as an Auckland and All Blacks selector. and he was promoted to Commander of the same order in the 1981 Queen's Birthday Honours, for services to the New Zealand fishing industry and the community. He was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal in 1977.

Corner died in Auckland on 3 February 1992.