Hawke\u2019s Bay, desperate to win the shield, had two earlier unsuccessful challenges against Auckland – a 5-3 defeat in 1961, and a 3-3 draw in 1963.<\/p>\n
Hawkeye in a Ranfurly Shield era match-day parade in Napier in the 1960s.<\/p>\n
The next chance came just over a year later, when the Magpies invaded Hamilton for a 6-0 shield win over Waikato.<\/p>\n
It brought the Log o\u2019 Wood back to the Bay for the first time since 1935, and for a reign of 22 defences till it left again in 1969.<\/p>\n
During that time, Hawkeye was almost as much the centre of the action as the players, on the sideline, squawking from a sound box fitted for the purpose.<\/p>\n
The story of Hawkeye goes back to a campaign by Hawke\u2019s Bay Today predecessor The Daily Telegraph, in Napier, which started seeking ideas for a mascot.<\/p>\n
Entrepreneurial Jock Stephenson came up with the idea, as recorded in a publication at the end of 1967.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s make it a magpie,…and a big one, say 12 feet high with a 20ft wingspan,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Friend and commercial artist Ian Mills whipped-up a sketch, businessmen Ray and Ernie Wiig agreed without hesitation to build it, and within hours, Hawkeye was taking shape.<\/p>\n
At the same time, a supporters club was also being formed, the brand Hawkeye Guys was already well established for the trip just 10 days later, with even greater enthusiasm for the \u201cinvasion of Waikato\u201d.<\/p>\n
Meech, now 83 and still a regular at Magpies games, wasn\u2019t around for the Taranaki match, having moved south to try his luck in Canterbury.<\/p>\n
But he was back to play almost all of the 22 defences and recalls Hawkeye as the \u201cstar of the parades\u201d run by the supporters club, which drew thousands of fans into Napier on the Saturday mornings of the games.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe made the parades,\u201d Meech said, although Hawkeye wasn\u2019t actually a \u201che\u201d.<\/p>\n
A junior Hawkeye was hatched for the more energetic sideline duties.<\/p>\n
With Hawkeye\u2019s adulation matching that of the players, the big bird did have one chink, Meech conceding: \u201cWe got a bit sick of the squawking\u201d.<\/p>\n
But Hawkeye was a people\u2019s favourite, even if it was disrupting traffic in Wellington and Auckland on other missions. <\/p>\n
Simon Tremain\u2019s famed dad, Kel (K.R) Tremain also wasn\u2019t in the Taranaki game, his only absence in 11 Hawke\u2019s Bay A matches that season, but he was captain in beating Waikato and retaining the shield for three years.<\/p>\n
Simon Tremain played 13 matches for Hawke\u2019s Bay in 1993 (having also played for Otago and Wellington).<\/p>\n
A major contribution was to come when he decided in 2009 that Hawkeye should be brought out of storage in Whakatu and given another go<\/a>.<\/p>\n