When a critic claimed the great Kenyan hadn't had time to recover from jet lag, a proud Quax quipped: "Sure he didn't, but I beat Keino. Nobody can take that away from me. I don't care if he was on crutches."
Later that year, Keino avenged that defeat by winning the Edinburgh Commonwealth Games 1500m but not before the gutsy Kiwi silver medallist was the only one brave enough to go with the Kenyan's searing pace.
The following year, Quax finished a humiliating third in the New Zealand 1500m final behind fellow Aucklander Tony Polhill and Wanganui's Ross.
The 1972 season didn't start too well either, when he was beaten in Tauranga by a 19-year-old who had drunk beer and played cards until 3am before borrowing a pair of spikes to race him.
That teenager was John Walker who, in 1975, become the first to break 3m 50s for the mile, won the 1976 Montreal Olympics 1500m and the first to register 100 sub-four minute miles.
In 1972, Quax had the satisfaction of breaking the national 3000m record in Whangarei and reduced Murray Halberg's 5000m mark to 13m 35s at Hamilton, where he also outsprinted Ross to win a 3m 39.4s 1500m later that season.
Joining Ross, Dick Tayler and Polhill, Quax ran a 3m 57.6s anchor leg to clock a world-record 16m 02.2s 4x1600m relay at Auckland's Mt Smart Stadium.
Although named New Zealand Athlete of the Year, 1972 didn't end well for Quax when, suffering shin splints, he failed to qualify over 5000m for the Munich Olympics.
Yet he reigned as the 5000m king in Europe in 1973 and looked a golden chance for the 1974 Christchurch Commonwealth Games before a stress fracture to his foot prevented him from competing, just as it did when injury struck a year later in Europe.
Invited to write for the Sunday Times, he was expelled from the 1974 Games Village for the manner in which he denounced the Kenyan tactics against his friend, England's 10,000m favourite David Bedford, a race brilliantly won in record time by a jubilant Tayler.
"Everyone expects the odd elbow and shove occasionally, but when it was blatant like it was for two laps, someone should have been disqualified," he wrote.
"I think if Bedford had been a Kiwi instead of a Pom, he would have hung one on someone out there during his race."
Accustomed to adversity, Quax bounced back to set a world record of 13m 12.9s in Europe in 1977 to dip under Belgian Emiel Puttemans' old mark of 13m 13s. But a virus saw his weight drop 4kg at the Montreal Olympics where he finished a gallant second to Finnish defending champion Lasse Viren, who was suspected of blood doping.
"What do you take?" Auckland Star sportswriter and 1966 Commonwealth Games decathlon champion Roy Williams asked. "Reindeer milk," replied a smiling Viren.
"Reindeer milk for Lasse," ordered Quax when it was his turn to buy drinks at a New Zealand bar when Viren toured here later.
Tricky Dick and Dirty Dick were two of the nicknames given Quax during a career which extended to him becoming a world-class marathon runner.
He was a tough, proud competitor who took no prisoners and once struck a young Rod Dixon with a perfect rugby fend to prevent him beating him for a disappointing third behind Polhill and Ross at Wanganui.
When Dixon protested, Quax responded, "What are you crying about? You've got to get used to it if you want to compete internationally against men. You're just a boy."
Incensed on learning a novice Walker believed he could have beaten him over a mile in Canada before the 1973 European tour, Quax ended the argument by telling him, "You'll never make a runner's arsehole".
However, such spats were quickly forgiven, if not forgotten, among three men who grew to respect one another.
And it was Quax's influence with European promoters that earned the unknown Walker his 1973 tour of the international circuit on which he, Quax, Dixon and Polhill shattered France's 4x1500m world record with Quax producing a personal best 3m 35.9s.
Quax may have appeared an enemy to some who crossed his path. However, those of us who enjoyed his brighter moments and loyalty will continue to treasure him as a friend.
● Ivan Agnew is the author of Kiwis Can Fly, the 1976 book about the golden era of New Zealand athletics.
