We continue with part two of the Otago Daily Times’ five-part series to name the South’s 20 most inspiring people for 2020.
Basketball coach
BRENT MATEHAERE
Brent Matehaere’s basketball coaching deeds alone give good reason for him to make list.
But it was his Otago Nuggets’ triumph that put the rest of it on display.
The Nuggets did not exist in April, were hastily put together and joined a revamped National Basketball League following Covid-19.
It was their first foray on to the court since 2014 — and they emerged victorious, beating the Manawatu Jets in a tense final in Auckland.
Yet, while Matehaere showed plenty of poise in guiding the side to the first title in its history, it was merely the vehicle to the rest.
His passion for Maori culture shone through.
He speaks te reo fluently.
On several occasions he did so on live television — in a year when the push during Maori Language Week was perhaps greater than ever.
It showed on his return to Otago Boys’ High School, where he teaches Maori and physical education.
Upon bringing the trophy to the school he was greeted with a passionate haka, a haka he has taught for 22 years.
A day later he was on the sideline coaching the school’s basketball team in an interschool match.
— Jeff Cheshire
SHAYNE CARTER
Shayne Carter has won awards for his music and awards for his writing, but recognition as an artist is something else again.
In 2020 Carter was named an Arts Foundation Laureate, a prestigious award granted for both his literary and musical achievements.
Carter’s career is steeped in Dunedin, from his beginnings as a teenage punk, his taking on the world at the vanguard of the "Dunedin Sound" movement, and then through his memoir Dead People I Have Known, which charted his life from Brockville to beyond.
For the majority, Carter is known for his rock’n’roll career, with Bored Games , The Doublehappys, Straitjacket Fits and Dimmer.
However, Carter’s musical ambit stretches much further, including his piano-driven solo album Offsider and having composed music for theatre and film.
Writing songs is Carter’s meat and drink, and his undoubted skill at the three-minute pop classic easily translated itself to long-form fiction.
Dead People I Have Known was hailed as a classic upon release, and went on to win the best non-fiction and best first book prizes at the 2020 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.
Creatively, the past 12 months have been a lean time for Carter, due to Covid-19, but in terms of long-overdue artistic recognition Dunedin’s latest arts laureate has had a stellar 2020.
— Mike Houlahan
MONIQUE KELLY
Wanaka entrepreneur and lawyer Monique Kelly is committed to raising public awareness about climate change and sustainability, and the need to change our economic model from one of constant growth to a circular one.
In October, for the third consecutive year, she co-organised a six-day festival of talks and workshops on climate change and this year included ways to reduce our carbon footprint and waste, particularly in the building industry.
"Climate change is probably the biggest issue and challenge we are going to face in the next 10 years so how can we use our skills within the community to help with that transition to get some really pragmatic practical things done to actually act against it?
"I am not someone who is going to sit down and ring alarms and complain. I am someone who says ‘this is the problem; now we need to start looking at solutions’."
Ms Kelly and her husband Alex Guichard won international awards for a chair they designed and made from 100% raw materials.
Earlier this year they opened the Revology Concept Store and Tea House where every product is sourced ethically and sustainably.
Ms Kelly does not just talk the talk, she lives and breathes it and is an inspiration.
— Kerrie Waterworth
TOBY STOFF
HE was a Dunedin hero on the world stage, climbing an uphill battle to right a wrong and restore a city street to its world record-winning glory.
Surveyor Toby Stoff (49) cemented his place as one of the top southerners of 2020 by challenging a controversial decision by Guinness World Records to strip Baldwin St of its claim to fame as the world’s steepest street.
It was dethroned by Ffordd Pen Llech in Harlech, Wales, in July 2019.
But Mr Stoff was adamant Guinness was using an incorrect measuring method, arguing that because the record-setting bid was measured on the inside verge of a curve, it greatly exaggerated Ffordd Pen Llech’s steepness and disadvantaged Baldwin St, which is straight.
So determined was he to overturn the decision, he even travelled to Wales to measure the opposition himself.
After getting expert opinions, Guinness announced in April that Mr Stoff was indeed right and Baldwin St’s record was restored.
He won plenty of fans along the way with his colourful character — and vocabulary.
Like many people, 2020 has been a year of ups and downs for Mr Stoff, but the Baldwin St battle was a surprising highlight, he said.
"I was 90% sure they would tell us to go jump in a lake."
He was humbled to make the top 20 list this year.
— Daisy Hudson
