Vale Charles 'Chilla' Porter (11 Jan 1936 - 15 August 2020)

By Paul Jenes and Brian Roe

The Australian Athletics Family acknowledges one of the sport’s most significant careers and contributions upon the passing on 15 August 2020 of Olympic silver medallist and sports administrator - Charles “Chilla” Porter.

Chilla was a giant of the sport – true in terms of stature but even more so in achievement and service. On-field he is most remembered for his part in the duel for the high jump gold medal in the haunting darkness at the session end on 23 November 1956 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Off it his mark is left through his role in leading Western Australian athletics through a time of major change to a point where its association became the most innovative in the country.

Charles Michael Porter was born in Brisbane and educated at the Anglican Church Grammar School. He first came to attention as a talented high jumper in 1952 when he achieved the first target of any young man with aspirations in the event – clearing a fraction more with  6’0¼” (1.835m) as a 16-year- old. He was tall at 6’3” and thin, and used the straddle technique. Widely known as “Chilla”, he was originally coached by his father, then Doctor Cyril Wilkinson and in Melbourne by Franz Stampfl.

The following year Chilla cleared 6’3¾” (1.925m) and by late 1954 he was over 6’6” (1.98m) for an Australian junior record. He trained hard - especially on technique.

Chilla competed at his first Nationals in 1955 in Adelaide and won on count-back from NSW Commonwealth representative - Kevin McMahon at a height of 6’4” (1.93m). He improved to 6’7½” (2.02m) in February 1956 and defended his national title in Melbourne with 6’6” (1.98m) over 17-year-old Victorian Colin Ridgway who would in 1962 become Australia’s first 7’0” (2.135m) high jumper.

The Nationals were not a selection even given that the Olympics were to be staged at home in November. The selection trials were held in October after which Chilla, Ridgway and John Vernon were selected to represent Australia at the Games in Melbourne.

Chilla’s time in the sun late the following month in Melbourne was destined to become one of the most dramatic and drawn-out high jumps in Olympic history. The large field of 29 jumpers began the qualifying round at 10am on the first morning of athletics and due to the low qualifying height of 1.92m only seven were eliminated.

Extraordinarily as it would now seem with modern practices requiring even a rest day between qualification and final, the 22 finalists resumed combat at 2.30pm on the same day. Even as the bar reached 2.00m there were still 16 jumpers in the competition.

Ten cleared this height including Porter and Ridgway. Ridgway and others then exited at the next height of 2.03m, still leaving five to do battle. Canadian Ken Money’s clearance at that height left him fifth whilst Sweden’s Stig Pettersson jumped 2.06m for fourth spot.

The bar was raised to 2.08m and the remaining three athletes, including Chilla, were all successful.

At 2.10m with the cinder take-off significantly chopped-up and becoming treacherous, the powerful Soviet jumper Igor Kachkarov was likened to a cargo plane trying to take off from a sand dune. He was eliminated, leaving only Porter and history’s first 7’0” jumper, Charles Dumas of the USA.

A captivated 60,000 spectators remained inside the Melbourne Cricket Ground, as the lights on the stands were switched on as both men attempted 2.12m. At 7.23pm Dumas sailed over on his third attempt. Chilla was unable to clear and finished with the silver medal.

But his work was not done and Chilla won the 1957 and 1958 Nationals with 2.03m and was selected for the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff, Wales. He had raised his season best to 6’10¼” (2.09m) in Brisbane in 1957.

In Cardiff another big field of 27 athletes started the qualifying round at 5’8” (1.73m) and eventually 11 athletes cleared the qualifying height of 6’5” (1.955m). Surprisingly Chilla’s teammate Ridgway failed to qualify. As in Melbourne, the final was held on the same day. Chilla had no problems until 6’8” (2.03m) where he required two attempts. However he found 6’9” (2.09m) beyond him and had to be content with silver once again, this time behind Jamaican Ernie Haisley who cleared that height.

The 1960 National Championships were held in Perth and with only two competitors in the high jump, Chilla cleared 6’10” (2.08m) to win his sixth national title beating Ridgway by four inches. Chilla, surprisingly alone, was selected for the Rome Olympics.

There were 32 starters at the Games and the qualifying height was 2.00m. Unfortunately Chilla was not in the same form as in Melbourne four years earlier and after clearing 1.95m he missed the qualifying height and was eliminated.

With his main Australian rival Ridgway in the USA, Chilla claimed his seventh consecutive national title at Brisbane’s Lang Park in 1961 with 6’6”. However a new group of high jumpers were emerging in Australia to challenge him. They included Tony Sneazwell, Graeme Morrish, Percy Hobson and Lawrie Peckham. Chilla did not compete in the 1962 Nationals but was back in action in September in Brisbane with clearances of 6’10¼” (2.09m) and 6’10” (2.08m). He was selected for the Perth Commonwealth Games after finishing third in the trials with 6’7” (2.005m) along with Hobson, Sneazwell and Peckham.

In Perth there were only 11 competitors but including four Australians who were looking to be part of a clean-sweep. Chilla came in at the starting height of 6’0” (1.83m). It took him three attempts to get over 6’4” (1.93m) and then two attempts at each height until 6’10” (2.08m) where he and Percy Hobson were left to fight out the title. Chilla took three attempts to get over 6’10” but Hobson was superior,  clearing 6’11” (2.11m) to take out the gold medal. It was Chilla’s third silver medal at major international games.

He retired after the Perth Games and became a successful businessman and a prominent Liberal Party adminstrator. Chilla had moved to West Australia earlier in his career and remained, later taking on significant roles in the administration of the State’s athletics association.

Chilla was appointed as chief executive officer of Athletics Western Australia (then called AthleticA) in 1996 serving until 2001 retiring from his professional role and joining the volunteer ranks. He was a board member from 2002 until 2013 and was association president from 2002 until 2004.

He was also a fearless delegate to Athletics Australia – stubbornly defending the rights of and seeking a better deal for the sport in his home state. But he also provided his strategic skills and business acumen to ensure athletics was heading in the right direction nationally and seizing the opportunities presented by a second home Olympics in Sydney in 2000.

The 1990s had brought the opportunity for a significant state government investment for Western Australian sporting associations that were prepared to undertake substantial reform. Athletics with its myriad components was a prime target.

But it was easier said than done with many of those with long involvements in the sport reluctant to adopt the desired new-fangled ideas. At one stage the acrimony and threatened legal proceedings necessitated a plan to be hatched to allow WA athlete to register in South Australia in order to be eligible for national and international competition.

Chilla was clearly the right man at the right time to get things back on track. As recalled by his long term colleague and general manager, and his successor as CEO, Wayne Loxley recalls – “Chilla really got people.

“Those times weren’t easy and Chilla just took his time to get different groups of people to see that change was not all that bad.

“He had the big advantage of knowing athletics from a long way back as well as that acute ability to work out what was motivating the various stakeholders. As a result he won the vast majority over and we achieved a very good outcome.”

In that new paradigm, WA Athletics made big changes in governance and sport delivery. They became leaders in the organisation and presentation of meets and in conjunction with the Western Australian Institute of Sport excellent managers of high performance.

Chilla was awarded the Australian Sports Medal in November 2000 for his outstanding service as an Olympic athlete and thereafter as an administrator. A year later he was bestowed with the Australian Government’s Centenary Medal again for service to sport. He was inducted into the Athletics Australia Hall of Fame in 2011.

Chilla Porter passed away after a long engagement with cancer. He is survived by his wife Nerida, daughter Shani and son Christian.

Acknowledgements: Keith Donald and Don Selth - Olympic Saga; The Official History of the British Empire and Commonwealth Games Wales 1958; Fletcher McEwen & Paul Jenes - Australian Annual Rankings; Paul Jenes & Peter Hamilton - Australian Athletics Results, Wayne Loxley