Wests Archive would like to thank Ken Hey for generously contributing his time and information in the preparation of this profile.
Ken Hey grew up with a football close at hand. His father was Wests and Australian player Vic Hey. Vic Hey had a successful playing career in Australia and then England. When he returned to Australia he turned his hand to coaching with club sides Parramatta, Canterbury Bankstown and Wests. He went on to coach both NSW and Australia.
Vic was coaching Canterbury when Ken was born in 1956. By 1960 the family had moved to the NSW south west country town of Cootamundra and remained there until the mid-1960s. Another coaching stint saw the Hey family move to the NSW central coast town of The Entrance.
This is where Ken Hey played his earliest rugby league and started to be noticed by the junior representative selectors. After leaving school, Ken moved to Enfield in Wests territory. He made his way through the Wests junior system and into the grade ranks.
Ken had a successful playing career with Wests, Parramatta, Penrith and a short stint with Newtown. After retiring he gave back to the game by coaching at the junior and senior level.
Ken has not been defined by rugby league. He has gone on and been successful in business and brought his skills to other endeavours along the way. Despite experiencing personal tragedy, Ken has a positive outlook on life and devotes his energy to family and close friends.
Ken Hey
