So you pitch up for a coffee with Mike Pawley in the café next to his Mona Vale sports store, turn on the tape recorder and say, “Mike Pawley - nice to meet you”. And within 20 seconds he’s given you his life story.
“I grew up in Lagoon Street, Narrabeen. I went to Narrabeen Primary, Manly Boys High School, Sydney University.
“I taught mathematics for 15 years and then started my own business selling sporting goods. I’ve had shops for the last 40 years. I have five in Manly Warringah.
“I played cricket for Manly for 20 years, there were 616 first grade wickets, which is top-10 all time. I played for New South Wales. Captained Manly to a first grade premiership.
“I’ve been broke several times. I’ve had three goes at marriage. I’ve lived up and down the peninsula and I’m not going anywhere else.”
And then he looks over the rim of his cup, half-smiles and raises an eyebrow. Anything else?
And of course there is. Because Mike Pawley 75, has led a life. The blokes at golf were lining up to offer tales. He’s known by sports folks up and down the peninsula. If you’re a parent, chances are he’s fitted your child in shoes. If the northern beaches has a sports store, it's Mike Pawley Sports.
As a boy Pawley played cricket and rugby league like his father, Lionel, a first grader for Eastern Suburbs. He enjoyed the surf though he didn’t have a board - in the '60s few did. He’d swim and fish in Narrabeen lagoon. And he’d play never-ending cricket matches with his pals in the street using garbage bin, fence paling and tennis ball.
Manly Cricket Club took him in. Manly Leagues Club helped him through university with a bursary. As a young grade cricketer Pawley played against Neil Harvey, Richie Benaud and Norm O’Neill. He played cricket against the Chappell brothers, and dismissed all three in an exhibition match with his left-arm finger spinners. And he played against Jeff Thomson – and survived.
In 1973 Thomson turned up at Manly Oval a week after he’d felled – and almost killed - Mosman’s 18-year-old opening bat Greg Bush. Thomson was mad about being left out of the NSW team and his opening partner was fellow Test man, Lenny Pascoe. Pawley says “every one was petrified”.
“He was greased lightning, Thommo, and also he was very … talkative [smiles]. He had a lot to say, he and Lenny. It was all ‘I’m gonna f***in’ knock you’re f***in’ head off, f***in’ kill ya, I’ll see ya after the game behind the toilets, I’m gonna belt the shit outta ya’. But after the game we’d have a drink. We were friends.
“But we were so scared that day. So everyone threw the bat. Slips couldn’t catch the ball. Thommo hit the sight screen on the full a few times. We got 247 off 24 overs at a time when no one was thrashing the ball. There were no helmets, no covers on the wickets. It was very scary. But he’s a really good friend now.”
"Teaching is my gift," says Mike Pawley, pictured here with students from Sydney Japanese International School in Terrey Hills.
From 1969 through to 1974 Pawley would play 11 games for NSW doing his best in competition with fellow spinners Kerry O’Keefe, Peter Philpott and Johnny Gleeson. In ‘73/74 Pawley was 12th man for every game bar one, bowling one over and taking one for none. Manly won the premiership with Pawley as captain. He took 56 wickets at an average of 8.
In 1975 he began running cricket coaching clinics. He says teaching is his gift. Through the coaching he began selling cricket equipment, which led to sports gear. He sold to clubs and schools. He opened his first shop, at Balgowlah, in 1978.
“It was cricket gear to start off with and then it became other sports,” says Pawley. “A lot of that business has now gone online, and most of my business is now footwear. Last month we sold 600 pairs of shoes, mainly football boots and netball shoes. And that business won’t all go online one day, because people have got to get fitted.”
Pawley opened stores in St Ives and Hornsby but they didn’t work out. His brand remains iconic on the northern beaches. “People will go to shopping centres or their nearest shop. And if they can find what they want, and the price is okay, they’re happy. We’ve survived on service, product, and availability - and easy parking,” Pawley says.
Pawley has survived Rebel Sports, Paul’s Warehouse and the online shopping phenomena. He’s been married three times. In 2004 Pawley’s house was burned down. A year later he got cancer. He’s battled dark times. One day, on a visit to Vietnam, a Buddhist told him he’d never be happy until he helped other people. Pawley took it to heart. And begat a great legacy.
“I started running a charity when I visited Cambodia on holiday in 2011. I started Happy Days Cambodia, a school with 500 secondary school kids in it, and two primary schools with 250 and 250 kids.
“We contribute $100,000 a year to the welfare of all those people, to their health and education. Because what we all know is the fast track out of poverty is through education.”
Since 2011 Pawley has visited Cambodia upwards of 20 times. Manly Cricket Club is a supporter. Manly cricketers Tim Cruickshank and Adam Crosthwaite have visited the schools. Pawley is looking to run a golf day at Long Reef to raise funds. One anonymous Manly CC benefactor kicks in $25,000 each year.
Pawley says he was deeply affected by his first and subsequent trips to Cambodia. “I grew up through the Vietnam War time, and it was always on the television. And I’d always wanted to visit. On that first trip I said to our guide, all these monuments and bridges are great. But we want to see how people live. And he took us to North West Cambodia near Angkor Wat, where people are living in absolute destitution and poverty. It’s an area where Pol Pot and genocide occurred in the 1970s.
“Cambodia is the most bombed country in history, more so than Germany. Cambodia has more amputees from landmines than any other country in the world. It’s suffered incredibly. It has 15 million people and the most corrupt Government in the world.”
He pauses, takes another sip of coffee. And says: “Now you have it all.”
We do not. Because the Mike Pawley story will continue to give.
To help Happy Days Cambodian Village check out: www.happydayscambodianvillageschoolinc.org.au.
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