Sport Newcastle has always looked beyond the city boundaries to embrace and support sporting achievement from across the North East. Boxer Glenn McCrory became a local legend when he won the IBF World Cruiserweight crown in 1989, the First North East fighter to win a world title. Glenn’s continued involvement with sport beyond his native Co Durham earned him a unique treble of all three of Sport Newcastle’s major awards - and he’s still one of our most consistent supporters. The North East is a hotbed of local rivalry yet the amazing rise of Durham County Cricket Club has uni ed the region in admiration and support. England internationals Steve Harmison and Paul Collingwood have won individu

Newcastle still hasn’t got a 50m pool but the lack of world class facilities hasn’t stopped swimmers making a splash on the international stage. Former Newcastle University medical student Kevin Boyd was the 1989 Sports Personality after the freestyler won silver and bronze at the Commonwealth Games. In the late nineties, Susan Rolph picked up the city’s top award two years running as she won double Commonwealth Games Gold, plus World and European titles. A decade later, 2008 Sports Personality Chris Cook repeated the Commonwealth double in the breaststroke sprints. Both Rolph and Cook were products of the phenomenal success achieved by City of Newcastle Swimming Coach Ian Oliver, who receiv

When Elswick Harriers’ Mike McLeod won the First Newcastle Sports Personality award in 1978, it began a lifelong association with Sport Newcastle. ‘The Elswick Express’ won the award on two further occasions, re ecting a career that brought an Olympic silver medal at 10,000m and victory in the inaugural Great North Run. Mike is still a vice-president with Sport Newcastle while his son - England International athlete Ryan - received support as a Sports Scholar. The World Champion 1,500m runner Steve Cram may have represented Jarrow and supported Sunderland, but the 1986 Sports Personality was living in the City of Newcastle when he smashed world records and won Olympic silver. Triple-jumper J

If there is one sport which Newcastle has excelled at over the past two decades, it’s basketball. Since 2005, the Newcastle Eagles have collected an astonishing 24 trophies - making the Sport Central out t the most successful sports side during Sport Newcastle’s 50-year history. Fabulous Flournoy MBE may have been born in New York City but he is most definitely an adopted Geordie. As a player and then head coach, Flournoy has played a key role in leading the Eagles to BBL dominance - and has collected our Sports Personality award twice. In 2016 the Eagles were recognised for their quadruple-winning 2014/15 clean-sweep campaign as ‘Prince’ Charles Smith collected the Sports Personality Award

Throughout Sport Newcastle’s five decades, rugby union has changed dramatically. Not only did the game become professional during the 1990s but the Newcastle Falcons also helped produce the most famous player in the world. Jonny Wilkinson - first recognised by Sport Newcastle as a Rising Star - not only won the Premiership title with the Newcastle Falcons but also kicked the winning drop goal during the 2003 World Cup final. He was named our Sports Personality in both 2002 and 2004. And a man key to Wilkinson’s success, his mentor Steve Black, collected the award alongside the ex-England fly-half in 2015 as they walked away as joint-winners. Rob Andrew, who not only led the Falcons into the

Tyneside lives and breathes football - so it is perhaps unsurprising that on a staggering 15 occasions, a Newcastle United player or coach has won our Sports Personality award. The breadth of winners from the club has been huge but perhaps the most romantic of them was the first NUFC winner. In 1979 forward Alan Shoulder - the pitman who rose through the ranks after playing for Blyth Spartans - picked up the award for his on-field successes. He was followed by a whole host of famous Magpies - with Steven Taylor, Kevin Nolan and Alan Pardew the most recent winners from the club. They followed two-time winners Peter Beardsley, Paul Gascoigne and Alan Shearer. In fact, Shearer is not only Unite

Sport Newcastle is celebrating its 50th anniversary by launching a special appeal to raise £50,000. Over the next few weeks we will look back on some of the personalities and events which have enriched the sporting life of our city over the past half century. Sport Newcastle is a registered charity supporting grassroots sport and has provided more than £2.5 million in financial grants to young talent, sports clubs and events. THE EARLY YEARS The Sport Newcastle story is a fascinating tale spanning seven decades. In the early days it was a very different organisation and few could have predicted it would become one of the major players in North East sport by the turn of the century. The big c

After 50 years of supporting grass roots sport and helping to develop the rising sports stars of the future, with some incredible results and success, Sport Newcastle is 'stepping' up it's fundraising activity in it's fiftieth year! The plan is to raise a further £50, 000 during its anniversary year, through various fundraising activities, and to help them on their way they have enlisted World Record holder and Olympic gold medallist Jonathan Edwards CBE... to help create awareness and support their fund raising efforts. Triple-jumper Edwards himself was supported by Sport Newcastle in his early years when he was purchased a valuable pair of spikes to help him compete at the highest level in

Sir John Hall (Sport Newcastle patron) gave an inspiring and at times thought provoking speech to conclude the launch of our 50th Anniversary Appeal. His passion for promoting North East sport is as strong as ever and he was generous in his praise of the efforts of Sport Newcastle and in particular Malcolm Dix. Sir John surprised the audience of assembled sports stars, past and present, representatives from local sports clubs, business leaders and the media by announcing that he would 'kick off' the fund raising effort by donating £10,000 towards the target of £50,000. This amazingly generous offer will go towards funding our 4 major projects and is typical of the support Sir John has offere