View source for Paul Ackerley

{{short description|New Zealand hockey player}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2018}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=October 2018}}
{{Infobox sportsperson
| full_name = Paul Douglas Ackerley
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1949|05|16|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Dunedin]], New Zealand
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2011|05|03|1949|05|16|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Wellington]], New Zealand
| medaltemplates = 
{{MedalSport | Men's [[field hockey]]}}
{{MedalCountry | {{NZL}} }}
{{MedalCompetition|[[Field hockey at the Summer Olympics|Olympic Games]]}}
{{MedalGold| [[1976 Summer Olympics|1976 Montreal]] | [[Field hockey at the 1976 Summer Olympics|Team competition]] }}
}}

'''Paul Douglas Ackerley''' (16 May 1949 – 3 May 2011) was a [[field hockey]] player, maths teacher and public servant from New Zealand.

He played [[field hockey]] at right half. He was a member of the national team that won the gold medal at the [[1976 Summer Olympics]] in [[Montreal]].<ref>{{cite Sports-Reference |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ac/paul-ackerley-1.html |title=Paul Ackerley |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200418051530/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ac/paul-ackerley-1.html |archive-date=2020-04-18}}</ref> He was selected for the [[New Zealand at the 1980 Summer Olympics|1980 Summer Olympics]], but most sports in New Zealand boycotted the Moscow games so he did not compete. He had 25 international caps for New Zealand.

Ackerley was born in [[Dunedin]] but grew up in [[Ashburton, New Zealand|Ashburton]]. He graduated from the [[University of Canterbury]], where he played in the Canterbury University hockey club in the late 1960s. He was a secondary school mathematics teacher at [[Linwood College]], Christchurch and then head of the maths department at [[Awatapu College]], [[Palmerston North]]. He transferred to the Education Ministry inspectorate, and then the [[New Zealand Qualifications Authority]], where he was in the group that developed the [[National Certificate of Educational Achievement|NCEA]]. He joined [[Sport and Recreation New Zealand]] (SPARC) in 2004 as a senior advisor in coaching and volunteers.<ref>[http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/CU1105/S00052/sports-community-mourns-death-of-paul-ackerley.htm Stuff, press release from SPARC]</ref>

He coached the national woman's hockey team when they won a bronze at the [[New Zealand at the 1998 Commonwealth Games|1998 Commonwealth Games]] in Malaysia, and the Wellington women's team.<ref>[http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-13657113_ITM The Dominion Post]</ref>

Ackerley died in [[Wellington]], New Zealand, aged 61 on 3 May 2011 from skin cancer after a short illness.<ref name="Stuff.co.nz_4956491">{{cite news |url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/other-sports/4956491/Former-NZ-Olympian-dies |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130112083756/http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/other-sports/4956491/Former-NZ-Olympian-dies |url-status=dead |archive-date=12 January 2013 |title=Former NZ hockey Olympian Ackerley dies |date=3 May 2011 |agency=[[NZPA]] |work=[[Stuff.co.nz]] |access-date=2 November 2011 }}</ref>

==References==
*''Ultimate team player and gifted coach'': Obituary in Dominion Post, 7 May 2011 page A26
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{NZOC profile}}
* {{Olympedia}}

{{New Zealand FHW Squad 1998 World Cup}}
{{New Zealand FHW Squad 1998 Commonwealth Games}}
{{1976 New Zealand Olympic team}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ackerley, Paul}}
[[Category:Deaths from cancer in New Zealand]]
[[Category:Deaths from skin cancer]]
[[Category:New Zealand male field hockey players]]
[[Category:Olympic field hockey players for New Zealand]]
[[Category:Field hockey players at the 1976 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:New Zealand field hockey coaches]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Ashburton, New Zealand]]
[[Category:Field hockey players from the Canterbury Region]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Dunedin]]
[[Category:Field hockey players from Christchurch]]
[[Category:University of Canterbury alumni]]
[[Category:1949 births]]
[[Category:2011 deaths]]
[[Category:Olympic medalists in field hockey]]
[[Category:New Zealand educators]]
[[Category:People educated at Ashburton College]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Olympic gold medalists for New Zealand]]
[[Category:New Zealand public servants]]
[[Category:New Zealand women's national field hockey team coaches]]
[[Category:20th-century New Zealand sportsmen]]