Recently, David McCallum organised for me to have the honour of meeting a living legend residing in Mayflower Village at Gerringong. I thought it might be nice to write an article about this gentleman for the Bugle. 

But I have a problem. What is the problem you might say? Well when writing about the lives of notable people, most of them have excelled in just one area.

They might have had an outstanding career in the Police force. They might as a member of the above run a Police Boys club for many years. They might have had such a positive effect on Aboriginal and other migrant children from disadvantaged homes that the former children will say it changed their lives. They might have organised and run boxing tournaments and had a big influence on Australian boxing champions. They might have established a relationship with other world class boxing champions like Mohammed Ali.

They could have, for many years, trained and managed representative Pentathlon teams attending numerous Olympic games and other international meets. 

They could have been heavily involved in surf lifesaving clubs in Sydney. They might have become famous for a huge rescue effort and received major awards.

They then may have moved to Gerringong and become the president of the Gerringong Surf Lifesaving Club and be heavily involved in the building of the first major clubhouse as well as the day to day running of the club and tournaments. 

Ken at a Gerringong surf carnival  

Any one of the abovementioned activities would warrant an article on its own. 

But what happens when you have to write an article about a man who has achieved all of these? And this is only the highlights!

This gentleman’s name is Mr. Ken Hodges.

I first came across Ken in an unusual place. I was flipping through an old newspaper from 1967, and I came across a picture and accompanying article about a group of aboriginal boys having fun at the South Sydney Police Boys Club in Redfern.

I posted pictures of these on the South Sydney forum. A man replied and said that he was one of those boys. In those days Ken was Sgt Hodges the policeman. He was a Sergeant at Redfern PCYC on Elizabeth Street for many years. With John ‘Pogo’ Morgan, Ken worked tirelessly to help young aboriginal boys get a good start in life. The poster recalled that he and the other boys had full access to the club including boxing, Sgt Hodges helped out there and broke it up with a laugh when things escalated! They had trampoline, gymnastics, roller skates, simple toys and things us poor kids could only dream about.

Ken with the Governor Marie Bashir

He said he will always love and forever respect Pogo Morgan and Sgt Hodges, both fantastic men for their efforts to make life a little better and the example they set to get us kids off the streets.

Just about all of the kids that were involved in that program went on to be very decent family men. Some went into government and helped create community development programs. 

These thoughts were echoed by an Aboriginal boxer named Wally Carr who gave generous praise to Ken in his book MY LONGEST ROUND.

In another post Brian Corless, a Gerringong resident, had this to say about Ken.

‘Sgt Ken Hodges retired down the coast and was a significant figure in the early days of Gerringong Surf Club at Werri Beach. Ken was also involved in surf lifesaving in Sydney and received a bravery award for swimming 100 metres from a surf boat in heavy seas with a line to attach to a fishing boat, so they could pull it and the crew away from rocks. His bravery medal was at one of the northern beaches and was on the front page in a newspaper. He was always doing good things for youngsters in Sydney and down the coast and managed and coached young Australian pentathletes taking them to Olympic Games and World Championships. He started the Berry Biathlon, a swim and run events for all ages at Broughton Creek, Berry as a fundraiser for the surf club. It featured ex Olympic athletes, emerging and retiring surf stars, elite triathletes and aquathon athletes alongside mum, dad and their kid participants.’

While visiting Ken, I had the chance to flip through a plastic sleeve folder where he had placed all the certificates, awards, newspaper articles and testimonials. It took quite a long time to go through them all. There were some from the Queen and even Winston Churchill.

Brian sent me a photo of Ken with some other dignitaries at the opening of the new Life Saving club house at Gerringong. The Gerringong and District Historical Society currently has a wonderful exhibition at the museum featuring the surf club and is releasing a new history book by Robyn Florence. I know Ken will be rightly honoured at the launch.

Mind you David did say I had to do one thing before I met Ken. That was to get dressed in my best South Sydney regalia. One of Ken's biggest passions all of his life has been the Rabbitohs.