So it was again last Monday, on the occasion of his 100th birthday no less, that wartime captain Albert Higgins eased into his armchair on the verandah of his old weatherboard home in Melbourne’s east, and reflected on his part in an extraordinary chain of events involving Baxter in the final days of the Second World War.
It happened back in September 1945, at Bandiana, outside of Albury, where Higgins served as captain of the 10 Advance Ordinance Depot, and Baxter as a private at 4 depot. At the time the Carlton players were readying themselves for the 1945 Grand Final against South Melbourne at Princes Park, but Baxter had been denied leave to play.
Enter Captain Higgins - a rabid supporter of the old dark Navy Blues as luck would have it.
“At the time, he (Baxter) was under my control, so when I found out about his circumstance I sent for him,” Higgins, the spritely bachelor, recalled.
“When Ken fronted up he actually thought he was in trouble. I remember asking him ‘So you won’t be able to play in the Grand Final?’, to which he replied ‘No I won’t.’ So I then told him ‘What I’ll do is send you to Melbourne to play, and I did.”
Higgins added that when Baxter boarded the Melbourne-bound train he did so under the stringent condition that he would report back for duty by no later than the following Wednesday.
“Sure enough, when the officers gathered for roll call on the Wednesday, there he was,” Higgins said. “I was satisfied that I’d done him a good turn, and so was he.”
“Even now I think about this episode. It still makes me happy to think that I gave the young bloke a chance to realise his dream. And I can still see Ken’s face at roll call . . . you’ve never seen a man so thankful.”
Ken Baxter
Baxter, whose 153-game career for the club was interrupted by the war years, was the only man to represent Carlton in the 1938, ’45 and ’47 Grand Final victories, and he was considered amongst Carlton’s best in the hard-one Grand Final of ’45.
Yesterday, Higgins happily related the tale to a solid gathering of well-wishers, including Carlton’s Marc Murphy, who was inspired to pay Albert a visit armed with birthday gifts on the club’s behalf.
“Albert’s in great shape, and it was terrific to hear him rattle off that story from the war years,” Murphy said.
“He was obviously well-respected by his peers to have led his regiment, and gee, how times change. Imagine getting leave from the war to get a run in a final?”
Marc Murphy congratulates Albert Higgins on turning 100,
Monday, November 23, 2009
