Maurice R Nicholas was arguably one of the Republic's better known athletics coaches. He started coaching in 1959 after being appointed national coach for the middle and long distance events.

Nicholas himself regards the attainment of the Coach of the Year award 1972 as among his greatest accomplishments. It was the result of the stellar performances of his outstanding athlete, P C Suppiah.

The achievements of Suppiah bore direct testimony to the abilities of Nicholas as a coach of exceptional quality, well regarded for his motivational techniques and scientific training methods, the incorporation of which, led to the development of record-breaking local athletes, the likes of P.C Suppiah and, later on, middle and long distance queen, K Jayamani.

The same year that Nicholas was nominated the Coach of the Year, his long distance protégés Suppiah became the first Singaporean to go below the 32 minute mark at the 10,000 metres ('72 Munich Olympics, 31 mins 19 sec).

Behind the successes of such athletes were dedicated coaches whose own careers were intimately linked to those under their charges.

Off the field Nicholas was, and still continues to be, a top official and administrator in the field of athletics; in 1960 he was appointed vice-president of the Singapore Amateur Athletic Association, as well as secretary of the Asian Amateur Athletics Association.

His list of firsts, both for himself and the Republic, include his election as a member of the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) in 1981. He also served as an IAAF technical delegate to the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, as well as at the Commonwealth Games in Auckland (1990) and Kuala Lumpur (1998).

A testament to Maurice's achievements came in 1982 when he was awarded the Veterans Pin by the IAAF, the highest award accorded by the federation to individuals for their contributions to track and field. That same year ('82) he received the public service medal from the President of Singapore, Devan Nair.

The IAAF again commended Nicholas in 1984 with its silver order of merit for his services and contributions toward the development and promotion of athletics in Asia.