It’s official: Warnie was an Aussie legend
SPIN king Shane Warne and legendary distance runner Ron Clarke are set to be officially recognised as the legends they were of Australian sport.
Cricket great Warne and champion runner Clarke will be elevated to Legend status in the nation’s most prestigious sporting club, the Sport Australia Hall of Fame.
The late Victorian-born greats who thrilled fans in extraordinary careers representing Australia will join an elite group of just 44 people.
Warne’s proud children Jackson, Summer and Brooke said their dad would have been thrilled to join a list of Aussie sporting immortals such as Don Bradman, Cathy Freeman, Rod Laver and Dawn Fraser.
“He would be very happy to be in that group,” Jackson said.
“It’s awesome ... you can’t get higher than this in the Hall of Fame. It’s just a shame he wasn’t here to see it. I know he would have been very grateful.”
Brooke said: “It’s just awesome and very well deserved.
“He was always himself and I think that is what made people feel like they knew him, everyone felt like he was their mate.”
Warne, the first player to break the 700-wicket barrier in a sublime 15-year Test career, was one of Australia’s most loved sporting heroes.
Still reeling from Warne’s shock death in Thailand this year, Summer said the outpouring of love and admiration for their famous father had helped the family deal with the grief of losing “the best dad”.
She said legend status was “so special”: “He may not be here but his legacy will live on for years to come and people will remember and hear about the great Shane Warne, the king of spin.”
Hall of Fame legend and chair John Bertrand said Warne and Clarke “symbolise everything that is great about sport in Australia”.
Warne is Australia’s greatest Test wicket-taker, claiming 708 scalps from 145 starts at an average of 25.41 and another 293 in one-day internationals.
Clarke was among his era’s greatest distance runners, breaking 17 world records.