Kenneth John Sharp, Died 28 June 2010, aged 93

Sportsman and Tennis player

I want to tell you a little bit about Ken’s passion for tennis.

Most people who have been involved with tennis in Canberra will know Ken and be aware of his love for the game and the enormous contribution he has made to local tennis.

When he arrived in Canberra in 1962 with his family, he became one of the originals to start playing at St Patrick’s.  He told me that he later became the principal court maintenance man for the club until the club closed.

In the early 1980’s he joined the National Sports Club and also became a member of the Veteran Tennis ACT.

He usually played on Tuesdays and Thursdays with the regular social group and he also enjoyed the Thursday Tournaments.  These were, and still are played on the first and third Thursdays of the month.

In the early days these were organised by Ted Bacon.  At that time there were three divisions playing regularly using all the available courts.  Ken was always put in as captain of one of the groups.

When Ted passed the baton over to Ken in the 1980's Ken was in his element.  Probably a bit of his army training and organization skills were coming to the fore.

He was always fair, and gave opportunities to all of us to have a win in our division due to his handicapping.  He usually had all the synthetic grass courts playing because we all enjoyed the competition.

I have been round to his home in Ainslie a few times.  He had a desk there which was dedicated to the Thursday tournament.  He could not go anywhere on a Wednesday, as this was the day he spent organising the Tournament, a job he loved to do.

A few years ago, we organised a ‘Tomato Tennis Day’.  This proved to be an enjoyable challenge for the players.  This is held in mid March, after the Thursday tournament.  We all bring out our best tomatoes to be judged.  We also invited our past players to join us who we call “Dads Army”.  We think Ken used to over feed his tomatoes, but like the rest of us, he certainly enjoyed the challenge.

Later in the year when it was colder we hold a Mulled Wine session after tennis.

Unfortunately in his latter days his hearing diminished.  This made phoning him to enter or cancel an entry an interesting situation.

Looking back, it would seem to me that he has always been there, full of enthusiasm and a figure to look up to and respect.

In 1997 the National Sports club recognized what he had achieved over these many years and presented him with a trophy in his name ‘The Ken Sharp Cup’.  He was also made an Honorary Life member of the NSC

This cup will continue to be presented once a year to the designated winner. This has usually been at one of the Tennis Seniors quarterly Dinners.  I am sure that this will be a reminder to members for many years into the future of Ken Sharp and his contribution to tennis.

Ken sometimes played in the Annual National Veteran Teams events.  One of the last ‘Vets’ National Annual Tournaments that he played in was in Hobart in January 2001.  At that time he was in an ACT team of 80+ year old players.  Despite the January heat he and the team played well and had a good result.  If we could ask him, he would still remember the scores.

Ken has been involved at the Sports Club for the last 30 years that I am aware of.  There must be many of you who have special memories of Ken as a sports person in the years.

He was also an Aussie Rules fan and could quote recent matches, ball by ball.  This was one of his outstanding abilities, to the last day he could remember the scores of our tennis matches and his beloved Collingwood AFL team.

You had a good life Ken. We will remember you.

(Chris Norwood)