I have been meaning for some time to write this tribute to the finest all round Scottish physically disabled athlete it has been my privilege to know in over four decades in Para sport. It was the late Jean Stone MBE who called me one day in the 70s to tell me about an Ayr Academy pupil with a below knee amputation who was pushing the boundaries in so many sports and was destined to become a Paralympian. In Jean’s opinion he was the best she had ever come across and in time I would arrive at the same conclusion. Dave McCrae is perhaps less well known than other Scottish Paralympians but mainly because he has spent most of his life living outside the country of his birth.
Dave excelled in swimming as a youngster and was club champion at Ayr swimming club in 1975. He captained his school rugby team for two years before receiving a life ban from the SRU because of safety I guess as opposed to any specific transgressions. Dave has always been a very competent golfer with a very respectable handicap of 15. He was a keen road runner on a blade for over ten years and turned in quality times over 5k, 10k, 10 mile and half marathon. Dave retired from recreational running in 2014 with a calf injury and has every right to be proud of his PB of 46 minutes for 10K. In his first of four successive Paralympic Games in 1980, Dave finished in 5th place in 100 metres final.
It was however in the sport of standing volleyball where David McCrae excelled at national and international level and became known as Scotland’s best ever volleyball Paralympian in a GB vest. At local level Dave won multiple national titles and Scottish cups with Kilmarnock volleyball club from 1978 through to 2000. Dave is proud of his achievement of earning a place in the Scottish Schools volleyball team in 1979. As a member of the Team GB Para volleyball squad, Dave won 105 caps between 1979 and 1999, won team bronze at the World championships in 1989 and the same at the Euro Cup in 1994. On four occasions the Ayr man was winner of the MVP/Best Setter Award at World or European Championships.
Dave McCrae’s record as a sporting ambassador and representative of Para athletes from all sports was similarly impressive:
- British Paralympic Association (BPA) Athletes Committee, (Member 1990 – 2000, Chair 1994 – 2000)
- British Paralympic Association, (Board Member 1992 – 2000)
- International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Athletes Commission (Member 1992 – 2000, Chair 1998 – 2000)
- International Paralympic Committee, Board Member 1998 – 2000.
- International Olympic Committee (IOC) Athletes Commission Member 1998 – 2000.
Dave McCrae graduated with a Bachelor of Education, (Hons) Physical Education & Human Movement (1981 – 1985), Jordanhill College of Education/Strathclyde University. By my reckoning he was the first physically disabled student to be accepted and graduate as a teacher of physical education. Dave was awarded a Master of Science (Honorary) from Glasgow Caledonian University in 1999 and was inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame at Strathclyde University with football and rugby “giants” Craig Brown and Ian McLaughlin in 2013.
Dave McCrae enjoyed a very successful career with sportscotland before moving overseas to the USA and carving out an amazing career in transportation. Dave was Manager at the National Sports Centre Inverclyde, Largs, from 1985 – 1993 and then managed the SportScotland, Sports Medicine & Sports Science, programme from 1993 – 1995. Dave became the manager of the TeamSport Scotland, Sport for Disabled People programme from 1995 – 1998 and then moved south to become the Manager, of the UK Sport Lottery Sports Programme, Paralympic Sports, 1998 – 2000.
Dave’s new career in transportation began when he became the Assistant General Manager, Spectator Transport, at Salt Lake Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games, 2000 – 2002. Dave is currently Self-Employed as a Major Event Transportation Consultant, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. What an amazing career and what journey from Ayr to Baltimore.
Dave has been involved in major Games and events all over the world. From the Doha Asian Games in 2006 through to the London Olympic and Paralympic Games and projects and programmes in Vancouver, South Africa, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Glasgow, Dubai etc along the way.
Dave remembers with great fondness being selected as the joint Paralympic Games flag bearer along with fellow Scot Isobel Newstead in 1992. What an honour for this proud Scot and strong family man. Dave McCrae has settled in the USA with his Australian wife Sheridan but returns across the pond every so often for a catch up with his many friends back home. Son of Wullie and Marie McCrae of Ayr, Uncle to Andrew, Rona and Alisdair and master of Finn the “dug”, there will never be another quite like the man from Robert Burns country. Along with many others I am proud to know him as a friend and a great supporter of Scottish Disability Sport throughout his career.
Photo: Dave with Fellow Paralympian Caroline Baird MBE
Richard Brickley OBE MBE Chairman Disability Sport Fife (SCIO) Board of Charity Trustees.