Louis Babrow

Oud Grey Louis Babrow op 1937 NZ toer: In 1937, Babrow faced the dilemma of whether or not to play a game against New Zealand on Yom Kippur, a Jewish holy day. In the end, Babrow player, with the rationale that he was playing inNew Zealand, not his homeland: "I'm a South African Jew, not a New Zealand Jew and New Zealand is eight hours before South Africa in time. When we are playing our holy day will not yet have dawned in South Africa".

His own opposition to Nazism was to take a highly practical form. As a member of the Medical Corps he was present at Dunkirk, in North Africa and Italy, was wounded at El Alamein, decorated with the Military Cross and mentioned three times in dispatches. After the war ended he was among the personnel who inspected the remnants of Hitler's Bunker in Berlin.

Upon returning to South Africa he had a long medical career, serving for 21 years as an elected member of the national Medical and Dental Council and for 25 years on the University of Cape Town council. He retained an active interest in rugby, serving as president of the university club and as a selector and manager at provincial and national levels. He was among the first to note the exceptional talent of future World Cup-winning flanker Ruben Kruger, a pupil at his own old school, Grey College in Bloemfontein.