Cats to honour stalwart Graham

FORMER Geelong president Owen Graham has been remembered for keeping the club afloat during bleak and uncertain times in the late 1970s, after passing away this week, aged 92.

Graham, who served as president between 1976-79, was yesterday remembered as an “absolute gentleman” whose passion and dedication ensured the club emerged from its off-field challenges.

One of the main physical legacies of his leadership was the construction of the old Reg Hickey Stand, which helped Kardinia Park remain a viable venue.

“Clubs often go through chequered histories and only the determination of people like Owen Graham, who, along with a few others who were at the club at the time, made sure we’re still here today,” Geelong vice-president Bob Gartland said yesterday.

“That’s how I want to honour him. It was a tough time for the club and he made sure we’re still here in 2017.

“Owen Graham was president for the years that encompassed the development of the Hickey Stand . . . and at the time it was a very big thing for the club, adding to the old Brownlow Stand, the RossDrew Stand and Social Club.”

Graham joined the club’s general committee in 1973, where he immediately took the role of vice-president. He later chaired the finance committee before taking on the presidency in 1976.

He and John Holt, who followed as club president, negotiated loans reportedly worth $1.6 million to build the river end Hickey Stand that stood for more than three decades before being demolished in late 2011.

In James Button’s book Comeback, Button notes how that debt would trouble the club for the next 20 years, but that without the grandstand the club may not have survived in the VFL as the league prepared to go national.

“He was a terrific person at a difficult time for the footy club,” said Gartland, who also chairs the club’s Honouring the Past management committee.

“We often pay the accolades to people who have great successes and get runs on the board, but we often can ignore the people who do the hard yards.

“Sometimes, football clubs don’t always enjoy sunny days and Owen Graham was a president at a difficult time when we needed people to put shoulders to the wheel.

“He was certainly instrumental in making sure that we stayed alive.”

Geelong players will wear black armbands on Saturday night against Greater Western Sydney in Graham’s honour.