A dual international, representing Australia in both rugby union and league, Summons passed away overnight aged 84, after a long illness.

He was a Kangaroo and a Wallaby and later, locally, a feted Wagga Magpie, leading the club to three straight rugby league premierships and five grand finals in five years upon his arrival.

Straight off a superstar career in Sydney, Wagga was home for Summons from the mid-1960s, along with wife Pam and children David, Gillian, Janine and Kellie.

He was a long-serving secretary-manager of the Wagga Leagues Club and later had the Tolland Hotel. He also served on Wagga City Council and was inducted into Wagga's Sporting Hall of Fame.

Summons was a well-known Wagga identity, but became recognisable almost everywhere, as one half of the famous NRL premiership trophy.

The iconic image of the small and mud-splattered Summons after the 1963 grand final, with the towering Provan, his opposing captain who later became a great mate, came to represent rugby league.

But if he's immortalised in bronze, Summons was brilliant in the flesh - a playmaker and leader who excelled at the highest level in two sports.

Born in Paddington in December 1935, Summons began his rugby career with Sydney club Gordon and the fly-half went on to play 10 Tests with the Wallabies between 1956 and 1960 - against South Africa, Wales, Ireland, England, Scotland, New Zealand and the British Lions.

In 1960 he switched from the amateur game to rugby league, joining Western Suburbs. The following year, Summons represented NSW and then his country again, to become Australia's 26^th dual international.

He went on to play nine league Tests, leading the all-conquering 1963 Kangaroo Tour, a squad that won back the Ashes and then won a series in France, as well as most of their 30 other tour games.

"I had the great honour and privilege of being captain-coach. I wouldn't recommend it," Summons quipped in an interview in 2013.

"It was a great side. Three immortals were in that side, (John) Raper, (Reg) Gasnier and (Graeme) Langlands, and it just proved how great they were. The boys around them of course I felt could also have been immortals because in my book I felt they were the greatest side to ever go away."

Summons missed four Tests with injury on that tour, but was honoured to coach. And the two Tests he played in were wins, completing a perfect record of five victories in five rugby league Tests as captain.

Leadership was Summons' trademark. His first Test as captain was in 1962 after the Kangaroos had already lost two. The halfback inspired his side with a stirring pre-game speech and then capped a brilliant individual game with a length-of-the-field try.

In 2008, rugby league's centenary year, Summons was named in the game's greatest 100 players.

At club level, his Western Suburbs side made three straight grand finals but went down to Provan's all-conquering St George in 1961, 1962 and 1963.

John O'Gready's photo of the opposing captains was after the last of those, a controversial loss in the wet in front of a record crowd of almost 70,000 fans at the SCG, ensured a brief moment in time would last a lifetime.

In 1965, Summons had an immediate impact in Wagga, leading Magpies to a Group 20 premiership against arch-rivals Kangaroos. Two premierships followed in subsequent seasons in the breakaway Murrumbidgee Rugby League, against Tumbarumba in 1966 and Tumut in 1967.

At a 50-year reunion, Magpies premiership player Tom McDonell told The Daily Advertiser: "I played under four different coaches and Arthur was by far the standout coach. He knew how to talk to the players and he just seemed to be able to get the best out of everybody."

Former Canterbury and NSW star Steve Mortimer grew up in awe of Summons.

"I'll tell you now, I was a Magpie fan back when I was a kid, even though I played for Turvey Park! I loved Arthur Summons," Mortimer said.

"He was a great halfback, a very clever halfback. I was very much a fan. There were things I knew from him that I used when I went to Sydney. If someone ever says have you met Arthur Summons, I am always very proud to say, yes I have."

Summons had actually come to Wagga High School to teach in the 1950s but was quickly recalled to Sydney after a term at the behest of the Wallabies selectors.

But his adopted city provided an international occasion late in his career when in 1970, Summons coached Riverina against Great Britain. After another Summons-special in the pre-game speech (with everyone but his players escorted out of the dressing rooms) Riverina narrowly went down 12-11 in a thrilling but brutal encounter dubbed a 'bloodbath' in the Sydney press.

For his induction into the Wagga Sporting Hall of Fame, Summons attributed his successful career to one thing above all else: enthusiasm.

"Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success. When you do anything, do it with all your might. Put your whole soul into it."

A private service for Summons will be held in Wagga later this week.