FORMER national water polo coach and Scottish Cup winning player Bob Nicolson has died, aged 59.
KNOWN to friends and family as Nicky, the much respected former player collapsed while playing his other great sporting love, squash, in a team match for Abercorn against Heriot Watt University.
He leaves wife Roza and children Robert, 32, Sonia,
27, and Stephanie, 22.
He also leaves a notable sporting legacy.
After retiring from playing water polo for Portobello, with whom he gained Scotland under-21 caps, Mr Nicolson moved into coaching.
In 1986, he succeeded Bill Laidlaw as Scotland under-21 coach before moving higher up the scale but, typically, Mr Nicolson regarded some of his greatest achievements as occurring outwith the international spotlight.
For example, he helped resurrect water polo at Warrender Baths and guided them to a first Scottish Cup win in 50 years. He was the driving force behind the first Edinburgh Schools water polo team and he led the squad to a tournament in Aalborg, Denmark, where he was recognised with a "keys of the city" award.
Former team-mate and lifelong friend Eddie Henderson said: "Nicky thought nothing of driving all the way up from a holiday we enjoyed together as teenagers in Newquay straight to a water polo match in Edinburgh.
"Sometimes we'd train in the now defunct and ice-cold Portobello outdoor pool using the edge of the raft as a goal; on other occasions we'd pump weights in the attic of the indoor baths near his home in Adelphi Place where his dad was the local coal merchant."
Roza Nicolson said: "We met at an Edinburgh discotheque in the aftermath of a Portobello Scottish Cup triumph, which Bob was celebrating.
"When we went on to marry, Bob's idea of the perfect honeymoon was a water polo refereeing seminar – in Aberdeen."
One of Mr Nicolson's water polo pals at the time was Billy Davidson, of Renfrew, who later became known to millions as a star of EastEnders, having adopted the stage name Ross Davidson on the way to becoming, for some viewers, a heart-throb.
Roza said: "Some time later we were in Billy, or Ross's, company and Bob told me we'd been introduced before. I told him that couldn't have been possible – or I'd have been on Billy's arm instead of his!"
In his late 20's, Mr Nicolson sidestepped a rugby career at Portobello FP and took up squash with typical gusto.
It was a measure of his loyalty that for more than 20 years he'd travel across the city from his home in Colinton to Abercorn's Willowbrae courts by-passing several clubs on the way.
A devoted family man, Mr Nicolson was approached to coach the Great Britain water polo team but feared the loss of time with Roza and his children.
A funeral service for Bob 'Nicky' Nicolson will be held at Seafield Crematorium on Monday, November 17 at 10am.
The full article contains 502 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
