Dick Tayler is best known for his triumph in the 10,000m at the Commonwealth Games in Christchurch in 1974, where he won gold and still holds a game record for his time of 27 min 46.4 sec.
Background
Dick has had an interesting life from farming to harness racing, where he held the position as New Zealand's Marketing Manager for five years before moving to DB Breweries where his first job was to visit every pub in the South Island. After five years with DB Breweries, Dick became involved in the gaming industry as South Island's Sales Manager for Advance Gaming (NZ) Ltd, who distribute Konami gaming machines. He has had his share of highs and lows through his life, from being ranked number one in the world for 10,000m in 1974, to becoming bed ridden with Arthritis 12 months later. It took three years before he was able to get back into light jogging, but his athletic career was over.
Dick is a real people person, a keen rugby man and is the President of the Canterbury Rugby Supporters Club. He holds a very high profile in the Canterbury province.
Dick has held various New Zealand titles, namely, 880yds in 1967, 1 mile in 1966, 1500m in 1970, 10,000m in 1973 and one of his best wins, the Cross Country Senior in 1973. Dick holds the World Record for 4x1 mile relay raced in 1972 but is best known for his legendary win in at the Commonwealth Games in 1974, inspired by his coach Arthur Lydiard, he won gold and was ranked number one in the world for 10,000m. In that same year, he was voted Sportsman of the Year.
Speaking and MC experience
Dick is a highly entertaining speaker - perfect for an after-dinner presentation! Dick has a great ability to mix a brand of serious and light-hearted humour while sharing his motivational and inspiring story, which resonates with any group or organisation.
As an MC, Dick can keep any event fun and entertaining, sharing humorous anecdotes throughout.
Video
Dick Tayler
Dick Tayler is best known for his triumph in the 10,000m at the Commonwealth Games in Christchurch in 1974, where he won gold and still holds a game record for his time of 27 min 46.4 sec."Dick was excellent. Very funny and informative at the same time. He related well to the audience and his speech fitted the function well!" ... keep reading Midlands Seed Limited
"Dick Tayler was absolutely outstanding. He was so nice to talk to and a pleasure to listen to. I have used Celebrity Speakers for a long time and I found Dick to be one of the best I have ever used. He was very entertaining, funny and inspiring all at the same time."
"Dick is a lovely man and he spoke very well. His video clip was a great reminder for most of our guests of the victorious moment for Dick and New Zealand. He had us all in stitches! Very funny!"
"Dick was very engaging with a great style! Due to the diverse age of our delegates we were not sure if he would appeal to the younger ones, however his style and story resonated with everyone."
Dick was perfect for a post awards event dinner, very entertaining, inspiring and basically very very funny! Staff commented on how their face and jaw were sore from laughing!
Dick was fantastic. His talk really hit all the areas we asked - while light-hearted and humorous there were also some great motivational messages in there for our team. We had staff laughing so hard they were crying! He also mixed and mingled over dinner which was appreciated by all our staff.
Dick was a fantastic motivational speaker. With a keen sense of humour and a down to earth nature he had the audience in hysterics for much of his speech. Again Dick took the time to talk individually with the audience after the formalities were completed which added a real personal touch to the night. A great guy, We would have no problems recommending Dick for any function.
Dick was the perfect speaker for our Mitre 10 Mega Queenstown Trade Opening. He followed our brief perfectly and managed to seamlessly and effortlessly incorporate our main themes into his talk. All the audience were enthralled, and laughing at his quick wit and delivery of the speech. Dick helped to make our night, and we will certainly use him again in the future at another event.
Dick was great and just what we wanted in our conference dinner speaker, funny, passionate and humble! What a great privilege it was to meet and hear from a great kiwi icon.
Dick is a great speaker who engages the audience of all ages and backgrounds. A real kiwi bloke that “tells it like it is” and delivered some great stories/humour and motivational insights of his road to victory.
Dick is a fantastic speaker, he’s witty, humorous, and can tell an amazing story, Dick is very inspirational and he knows how to get the audience lightened up with his stories. It was awesome that Dick could tailor his speech to suit our evening theme and objectives. Well done Dick and Thank You.
