Wagga cricketer and tennis player Keith Ferguson dies in Sydney at age 92

Mr Ferguson was born on October 29, 1929, in West Wyalong and moved to Wagga when he was 12 years old.

He attended Wagga High School and played in almost every representative sports team available, including cricket, tennis and rugby league.

Mr Ferguson graduated high school in 1946 and began his working career at the Commercial Banking Company of Australia, now Westpac.

In 1949, he got a job at the Southern Riverina County Council - now the Riverina Water County Council - where he worked for 36 years.

Mr Ferguson also played Aussie Rules for the Wagga Tigers and won the City of Wagga A Grade doubles with Clive Galvin three years in a row from 1953 to 1955.

In 1953, Mr Ferguson played for Combined Riverina in the O'Farrell Cup against a NSW Sheffield Shield XI. His opponents included Australian cricketing greats Keith Miller, Richie Benaud, Arthur Morris and Ray Lindwall.

At work, Mr Ferguson became deputy clerk in 1965 and was promoted to county clerk in 1978. It was in this role he was a "figurehead for the council" and regularly appeared on local TV and in the paper.

Mr Ferguson met his wife Patricia O'Leary at the Half Holiday Tennis Club in 1948. They married in 1954 at St Michael's Cathedral and moved to a house on Athol Street, Turvey Park.

Together they had two children, Paul and Michele.

Mr Ferguson continued to be involved in cricket and tennis throughout his life, later pitching in as an organiser at the Wagga Leagues Club and the Half Holiday Tennis Club.

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He loved the country and went on regular fishing trips to Walgett, Wilcannia and Bourke. He was also passionate about birds and in 1952 his pet pigeon won best bird at the Sydney Royal Easter Show.

In 1985, Mr Ferguson retired and he and Patricia moved to Bundaberg, Queensland to escape the cold Wagga winters.

Mr Ferguson's son Paul said his father was a friendly man and was always willing to strike up a conversation with anyone he met.

"He was a man of the people," Paul said.

Mr Ferguson is survived by his wife Patricia, two children Paul and Michele, and four grandchildren.

His funeral was held on Wednesday, August 10, at the Northern Suburbs Memorial Gardens and Crematorium, Ryde.

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