A seemingly endless kicking affinity with a worn out tennis ball as a boy during his early education at St Just's Cot School House saw a fair haired diminutive youngster progress to become one of the finest all round sportsmen Cornwall has ever seen. IVAN ROWE tells the story of a St Just boy who became a sporting legend ...

IT WAS as a 10-year-old, back in 1929, that Nicholas (Nicky) Silvester Holman, one of three brothers, was showing a phenomenal ability and amazing skill at football, cricket, tennis, athletics – and later even the odd games of hockey and rugby.

From his boyhood days, through the teenage years to maturity and beyond, he was a sportsman who possessed an outstanding natural balance and poise that gave him a graceful style in whatever game he chose to play.

Certainly, a rare all rounder of immense talent; he became synonymous with the best in Cornish football, just as Soloman was once considered the master in Cornish rugby.

The shy, quiet and unassuming boy in St Just learned to play his tennis on hard courts next to the Cape Road cricket ground. It has been said that his style of play developed into something extraordinary; a naturally gifted tennis player, who possessed a tremendous volley and an accurate service. Astonishingly, his high standard of play, just like his football and cricket, was attained without any form of guidance. Today, these qualities would only have resulted from many hours of intense coaching.

He was only 16 years and a few months when first chosen to play senior cricket for St Just, but soon his artistry was being admired and appreciated on the cricket pitch and outfield wherever he played; his natural flare and ability, whether batting or fielding, soon became a superior class to all around him and he established himself as a firm favourite with spectators and players alike.

On one occasion during his school days at Probus, Nicky, playing at inside centre, scored and converted all five tries in a game against Dunheved College.

However, it was a career in teaching that young Nicky was to pursue and in due course, his path took him across the Tamar to Exeter's St Luke's Teacher Training College. His first sporting love being football; it was not long before Exeter City saw his potential and it was at St James' Park that he played as an amateur on Saturday afternoons.

At the outbreak of the war, Holman joined the RAF and his posting took him to South Africa. In 1942, he had the honour of playing for Queenstown in the South African Soccer Cup final, the first Cornishman ever to do so, and it was during this period when the 23-year-old appeared in regional games for the Cape Province. He was also bestowed with the captaincy of the Cape team in their game against the Transvaal and later, he represented South Africa in a full international against the former Rhodesia. The programme's pen picture for that particular match described him as a "brilliant schemer having immaculate ball control."

His cricketing prowess in South Africa was once described in a Queenstown newspaper, The Daily Representative, under the heading "Holman Scores Grand Not-Out Century" as faultless. Against Umtata, Queenstown, put in to bat, scored 238 for seven and Nicky's 105 not out for Queenstown included 10 boundaries. "His late cuts were superb, scoring all around the wicket in a manner that was a joy to watch."

After the war and back in his homeland, a teaching post at St Austell saw his loyalties divided between the clay town and the mining town, with cricket in the summer and football in the winter.

On one of the all too rare occasions during the post-war period when back in his home town, Holman led the St Just team to a 5-1 win against Nanpean Rovers in front of a huge crowd in excess of 5,000 spectators at the Mennaye Field. The team had to force its way through a cheering, excited crowd that early summer's evening in 1946 to receive the Durning Lawrence Cornwall Charity Cup.

Holman, playing at inside right, was voted the man of the match and it has been said that the young County player displayed unbelievable ball control that evening, opening up the game with "deft passes of uncanny accuracy."

A county regular during the post-war years, I was recently reminded that on one particular occasion when he played for Cornwall against Tottenham Hotspur in an exhibition match at the Mennaye – the game watched by a crowd of 10,000 – Holman completely mesmerised three Spurs' defenders before casually slipping the ball to Gerry Gazzard to score.

His career reached its pinnacle in May 1947, when he was selected to represent England at amateur level in their Spring International tour of France, Luxembourg and Holland. A unique achievement had been created in that Nicky was to become Cornwall's first dual International footballer.

He never forgot his roots. Fittingly, a story once told to me by the late Jim Williams goes like this: On returning to his home town from the continent, having laid on the pass to a colleague who in turn scored the winning goal for England against Holland, Holman chose to play – rather than replace a regular first team player – for St Just reserves away against St Levan on a field which was not exactly free from cow deposits! This personified the type of man he was; he simply played for the love of the game and certainly never sought publicity, or indeed, monetary reward.

He epitomised the ethos of a complete sportsman, being naturally adept in whichever game he chose to play. His foremost attribute was his athleticism, as he would use his speed and incredibly accurate ball control to great effect.

Depending on who you speak with, or what you see on television or read in books or newspapers, different people have naturally different views on what makes a sportsman of Nicky Holman's qualities immortal.

A sports science expert would probably tell us that it is a combination of several in-born factors, possibly in the person's genes. But to be able to participate in several sports and display a high standard of play in each, without having received any form of coaching or guidance, is very unusual and apparently this applies only to one in 100,000 people.

All of Nicky's three brothers played soccer for Cornwall. Brother Frank, like Nicky, also played cricket for the county. All three were exceptionally brilliant footballers, however, only Nicky possessed the skills which made him a complete all rounder in several different sports. He excelled at football, cricket, tennis, hockey, athletics and he was no doubt useful in others too.

He was no more than five feet 10 inches in height and weighed around 11½ stone. The man was incredibly lean during his heydays. However it was his athleticism and speed off the mark, coupled with a phenomenal ability to 'weigh-up' his opponent which always gave him a marked advantage. His eye for a ball was a natural in-born gift, which he always used to good effect.

A legend in his own lifetime, the illustrious sporting career of the boy from St Just ended in 1952 at the age of 33 – and it was then that he returned to the African Continent; this time to take up a position as head teacher in a local school in the state now known as Zimbabwe. He died while visiting his wife's relatives in Edinburgh in 2002 at the age of 83.

Nicky Holman is buried in St Just.