Patrick Ohlstrom

Patrick Andreas Ohlstrom (16 December 1890 – 10 June 1940) was an Australian cricketer and baseballer. He played in one first-class cricket match for South Australia in 1923–24 and was selected to represent the Australia national baseball team in 1929 but was unable to make the trip.

Biography Born in Warooka in South Australia's Yorke Peninsula, Ohlstrom attended Edithburgh Public School and played cricket and baseball as a youth. before moving to Adelaide, where he played cricket for Glynde Cricket Club and as the star pitcher for Freemason Ramblers, one of the leading baseball teams in South Australia at the time.

World War I Ohlstrom enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) on 23 June 1915 as a Corporal with the 32nd Infantry Battalion B Company and embarked from Adelaide for Egypt on the HMAT A2 Geelong on 18 November 1915. Severely wounded in a gas attack in May 1918,

Awarded the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal, while studying law at the University of Adelaide. There he played cricket for Adelaide University Cricket Club and founded the Adelaide University Baseball Club in 1922, captaining it until 1924. Ohlstrom's good form for University in Adelaide district cricket led to his selection in the 1923/24 South Australian training squad made his first-class debut for South Australia against New South Wales at Adelaide Oval on 14 December 1923.

Batting at no. 11, Ohlstrom made 1* and 3, and took 1/25. Described as "a light and joyous foot that between bases gives a brilliant exhibition that even Pavlova might envy", Ohlstrom retired from baseball in 1936.

In 1930, Ohlstrom represented Baseball South Australia on the cross-sport committee to determine the sporting colours of any official South Australian sporting team (the committee chose red, gold and blue).

In recognition of Ohlstrom's service to baseball, teams in the South Australian Baseball League compete for the Ohlstrom Memorial Shield.

Ohlstrom was also a member of the Kensington Gardens Bowling Club and the Amateur Sports Club.

Business and political career Following his university graduation, Ohlstrom worked as a solicitor, becoming a partner in Edmunds, Jessop, Ward, and Ohlstrom in 1932, which later became Jessop, Ward, Ohlstrom, and Mollison. President of the Glen Osmond Institute, President of the Parkside Branch of the Returned Soldiers' and Sailors' League (RSL), Secretary of the 32nd Battalion (AIF) Club, member of the Naval and Military Club, the Stock Exchange Club and the Amateur Sports Association.

Personal life Ohlstrom became engaged to Leonore Haynes in September 1921 and were married on 3 December 1921 at St Francis Xavier's Cathedral in Adelaide.

Ohlstrom died aged 49 at an Adelaide private hospital on 10 June 1940, ten days after undergoing surgery. He was survived by Leonore. The Weimar-Ohlstrom Prize for German continues to be presented to the best Adelaide University student in German Studies.