Fred Allen started his working life in Christchurch as an errand boy for Ballantynes department store, work which sparked his interest in the fashion business. After WW II he set up shop in a pokey storeroom in Auckland, making belts before he began manufacturing women's clothing.
It felt incongruous to go and meet one of the nation's great rugby names at his fashion house where he was cutting orders or dressing mannequins. This was the coach known as Fred the Needle in a crack at his occupation and his cutting tongue on the rugby field.
Allen kept the business going until he was nearly 70 before he retired to his house on the Whangaparaoa Peninsula.
Bowls, fishing, meeting mates and entertaining filled his days. He would sit in his sun-drenched backroom pulling stories and recollections from his youth.
He told me about the deeds of George Nepia and Johnny Smith and how he'd seen the extraordinary Bert Cooke play, "he was a predator, an assassin and an artist all tied up in one magnetic bundle."
Accounts of Allen's own talents show he was a footballer with fine balance, a sidestep of either foot, a sound strategist and a full range of skills delivered for the Kiwis and then as All Black captain.
