The small town of Katamatite has spawned its share of sporting heroes over the years, including VFL/AFL footballers and a Stawell Gift winner.
Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content
But none better than town legend Pat O'Kane.
One of nine children - six brothers and two sisters - they all grew up in the home still occupied by O'Kane and his wife Edna.
Edna, formerly from Yarrawonga, a north east beauty queen was instantly attracted to the tall, handsome athlete, and the pair married in June 1967.
The couple had two children, daughter Anne Maree and son Brian, both now in their 50s.
O'Kane was a champion tennis player, who accumulated eight Victorian Country Championships, and went on to play at the hallowed All England Lawn Tennis Championships as well, better known as Wimbledon.
He was unusual in that he was an ambidextrous player, using his left hand as his backhand.
He also played at Kooyong in the Australian Championships and Forest Hills in New York, now known as Grand Slam tournaments.
He was seeded fifth in the Australian Hardcourt Championships in 1952, with two-time Wimbledon champion Lew Hoad taking out the title.
He defeated three-time Grand Slam champion Neale Fraser, when Fraser was just 19 and again at 21, but considers his best performance against Fraser at the Limerick Championships in Ireland in 1958, just five days after he was runner-up at Wimbledon, when he took him to three sets, taking the second set in a marathon, 11 games to 9.
Football was another sport in which O'Kane excelled, playing at Yarrawonga with his brother Brendan (Curly), where he was runner-up in the club best and fairest twice.
He then moved to Numurkah in the Murray Football League, winning two premierships, and another two with Burramine, in the Benalla-Tungamah League, at one time kicking 31 goals in three games when playing in the minor league.
At one time, when playing pennant tennis in the city, he was invited to train with Melbourne and initially offered a game in the seconds, however declined as he had tennis commitments.
An opportunity lost, had it been Collingwood he may have changed his mind.
In his youth, Peter McKenna, a champion full forward for the Magpies in the 1960s and ‘70s, spent his summer holidays with the O'Kane family, and retains a lasting friendship.
He is still a great fan of some of the Collingwood stars of yesteryear.
Des Fothergill and Bobby Rose are players he still idolises, with another favourite being fullback Jack Regan, who even politely answered a letter a very young O'Kane had written to him.
O'Kane has an interest in many sports, including footrunning, cycling and trotting, at one time being a part owner of Murray Mack, a trotter which raced with great success.
He was on the Victorian Athletic League board for nine years. 1957 Stawell Gift winner John Carr was his best man.
The legendary cyclist Sid Patterson was his hero in the 1940s and ‘50s because of his exploits, winning many world sprint championships.
Even today he speaks glowingly of his magnificent performances, although through more modern technology and better training methods, his times have been obliterated.
He attended 50 Stawell Gift meetings and was responsible for 1995 winner Glen Crawford being reinstated after being disqualified in a semi-final and going on to win the time honoured event.
He has been a great contributor to the Katamatite community for many years.
He was installed as a life member of the local Lions Club some years ago and is still an active member.
He has served as chairman of the Katamatite Primary School committee and has been a major contributor to the cemetery trust.
At just 16, he became the secretary of the local Grain Elevators Board, until the wheat silo closed many years later.
He claims to be the only one in the world to have shorn 200 sheep in a day and played tennis at Wimbledon.
A very engaging character and great raconteur, he recalls many tales about the 94 years he has spent at Katamatite and beyond, mainly from the world of sport.
Not only was O'Kane an outstanding sportsman, but his brother Curly and sister Aileen excelled in their chosen sports, sheep dog trials and tennis, with Curly winning multiple Australian sheep dog trials, and Aileen being victorious in two Victorian Country Tennis Championships.
Former Victorian National Party politician Don Kilgour who, along with his twin brother Rod, have idolised O'Kane from when they were young children, where their family ran a grocery business in the old town, had this to say when he attended O'Kane's 80th birthday: "I met the Queen when in London, and when she asked where I came from, at first I was reluctant, as I thought she would never have heard of Katamatite, but when I told her, she asked, ‘how is Pat O'Kane getting on?'”
A time-honoured yarn, but most likely not too far from the truth.
- Arthur German