Richard John Bryant, known as Dick, was born in Perth on 8 May 1904. He was the oldest surviving son of William and Ellen Bryant (nee Green), who had married in Victoria in July 1898. Back here in August, William went into business selling wood and coal with Jim and Jack Waters in what would be the very successful firm Bryant & Waters.
Dick grew up in North Perth and then Mount Lawley, knocking about with his younger brothers Bill (born 1906) and Frank (born 1909). All three boys were incredibly talented at sports; tennis, football and - in particular - cricket.
In 1917 Dick (13) and Bill (11) were sent off to boarding school at St Ildephonsus College - the oldest of Newman College’s antecedent (founding) schools, established in New Norcia in 1913. Dick captained the Junior Cricket Team in his first year there and also proved a top student academically.
By 1919 Bill was captain of the Junior team, and Dick was in the First XI cricket team, though younger and smaller than most of his teammates.
The next year he was in the First XVIII football as well as First XI cricket, with Bill. He played handball on the famous handball courts, was an officer in the cadets, and near top of his classes in English and Latin. He captained the First XI in 1921, and won special prizes in no less than five subjects.
In 1922 Dick was picked up by East Perth Cricket Club and played his first game at the WACA on 29 January 1923. General concensus in the Call newspaper of 2 February 1923 was that he was up to A Grade standard.
The next month Dick passed his final Leaving subject and began his studies in law in the offices of the late R S Haynes KC. Younger brother Bill also left St Ildephonsus in 1923, heading for a career in pharmacy. Both were appointed to the Executive of the Old Boys’ Association, the Minutes of which are in Newman College’s new Archives.
The brothers’ time at the school was summarised in the 1923 St Ildephonsus yearbook:
"Dick played Association Football with College till he left in May, and we've never seen anything quite to equal his roving and forward play in the College XVIII. His cricket is of the thorough type, and no feature of bowling, batting or fielding, is below close attention. We have to congratulate Dick on being admitted to 1st grade cricket within so few months of leaving college.”
"Willie, his younger brother, is little inferior to Dick in a hard football struggle, and the right temperament for a first rate sportsman and cricketer. College teams for the past three seasons have never received more loyal support than from these two splendid athletes. Every phase of College life received their undivided attention."
That year, many column inches in newspapers were thereafter devoted to Dick’s prowess on the sporting field.
In 1924 though, on a visit to the eastern states, he changed his cricketing style from his usual fast and free form to a tighter, more defensive play. It was an utter disaster, and newspapers quickly noticed, bluntly reporting on the change.
He soon returned to his old fast and free style and the previous successes for which he was so well known, and scored his first century at the WACA in March 1925.
Around this time, because it was thought it would help develop throwing and catching skills, baseball was introduced to WA. The game became very popular here, despite players wishing the bat was a foot wider and the bases closer together!
Dick became inaugural president of the West Australian Baseball League and preferred to play that sport in winter rather than football, to avoid the injuries that usually went with a successful football career.
In 1927 he captained the Maylands/Mt Lawley Cricket Club which had been established a few years earlier with his father as patron. By then Dick was recognised as one of the finest batsmen WA had ever seen, and the best cover point in Australia. He began playing State cricket in 1928, and captained the 1929 and 1930 State teams (the Touring XI). Around this time he was one of the WA cricketers featured on a Wills's Cigarettes card.
Meanwhile his brothers Bill and Frank were achieving their own successes in sport, and in those first years of the 1930s Dick and Frank created quite a record - of being the only set of brothers who both scored a century in the first innings of a first-class cricket match.
Does anyone know if that record is still standing…?
On the morning of 18 January 1938 Dick (33) married dance band conductor Doreen D’Arcy (33) at St Mary’s Cathedral, Perth, and such was their celebrity, their wedding made the front page of The Daily News’ afternoon edition.
After a reception at the Karrakatta Club and a honeymoon cruise to New Zealand, they made their home in Holmfirth Street, Mount Lawley, near Dick’s family home in which his widowed mother still lived.
Dick enlisted in WWII, but served at home. He finished his articles and became a solicitor before the end of the war.
Having captained his local Maylands/Mt Lawley team, he then captained the State team, then became the State selector, and was the manager of the victorious 1948 Sheffield Shield Team in 1948.
His wife Doreen died on 11 August 1977, aged 72. Dick died almost exactly 12 years later, on 17 August 1989, aged 85.
The R J Bryant Cup for Outstanding Cricketer of the Year was inaugurated in 1965 at Marist Brothers’ College, in its first year of operation after the 1964 closure of St Ildephonsus. The first version was retired in 2013, with all available space being filled, and is safely housed in Newman College's Archives. A second version is still awarded today.
Brother Terry tells us that in 1965 when the R J Bryant Cup was inaugurated, Dick’s son John was a Year 10 student at Marist Brothers’ College, and won this award in both 1967 and 1968. John inherited his father’s cricketing skills and played in the College First XI and, in Year 11, was chosen to tour India with an Australian schoolboys’ team!
To this day there are still Bryant descendants at Newman College.
Other Newmanite recipients of the R J Bryant Cup were:
1965 - Jim Portwood
1966 - Peter Hales
1967-1968 - John Bryant
1969 - Martin Jeffrey
1970 - Craig Bradley
1971 - Greg Maslin
1972 - Greg Snudden
1973 - M Colgan
1974 - Dennis Medley
1975-1976 - Phillip Haydon
1977 - Paul Anthony
1978 - Jeremy Jones
1979 - Darryl Power
1980 - Greg Fitzgerald
1981 - David Clear
1982 - James Malone
1983 - 1989 - Not Awarded
1990 - Cory Johnson
1991 - Peter Costantino
1992 - Luke Leschke
1993-1994 - Brett von Burgheim
1995 - Samuel Howman
1996 - Antony Lalor
1997 - Samuel Howman
1998 - Wesley Robinson
1999 - Mark Stoitis
2000 - Justin Stafford
2001 - Luke McShane
2002 - Gregory Quin
2003 - Rowan McPhee
2004 - Shaun Bryant
2005 - James Sansalone
2006 - Anthony Murphy
2007 - Daniel Reid
2008 - Andrew Holder
2009-2010 - Mitchell De Barro
2011 - Michael Thacker
2012 - Angus Taylor
2013 - Bailey Rogers
2014 - Richard Thacker
2015 - Samuel Moylan
2016 - Joseph Moylan
2017 - Nicholas Licastro
2018 - Joseph Moylan
2019 - Liam Kelly
2020 - Tatenda Makova and Dylan Mulligan
