Integrity, hard work helped many sports

• Published date: 01 May 2021

Many people are servers of their community. Many give time and energy to the area they live in.

But Stewart McKnight went to another level. His contribution to Otago at many different levels was immense.

He was a life member of 12 different organisations. He filled so many different positions in clubs and organisations over the years, it was easy to lose count.

Mr McKnight loved sport and the thrill of competition. But he went well beyond just playing the game. He was the driver of many competitions and facilities all over Central Otago, and had a dignified and supportive manner, which was much admired.

The former farmer from Ida Valley is believed to be the only person in modern times made a life member of both the Otago Cricket Association and the Otago Rugby Football Union.

He was also a life member of the the Idaburn Curling Council, the Otago Country Rugby board and the Otago Country Rugby Referees Association.

Mr McKnight was the prototype for a community worker. Any job, no matter how hard, how tough, could always be handled.

He was a humble, gracious man, who had friends right round Otago and further afield.

Asked once why he gave his time so generously in so many different ways, it was quite simple for Mr McKnight.

‘‘It’s your duty ... the camaraderie seeing the community grow and the challenge of punching above you weight and winning.’’

He got extraordinary things done without standing out.

Sport was a massive passion. He loved cricket, rugby and curling, and took up bowls when his cricketing days finished.

Not that he was too keen to get to the bowling green at first. He had a contest with his great friend, Ian D. Smith, over who would be the first to take up bowls, and it was not something he wanted to win.

He died in Ranfurly, on the bowling green, on January 8, a day before his 86th birthday.

A lover of cricket, he turned the Oturehua ground into one of the best wickets and grounds in Otago.

He somehow managed to get truckloads of Kakanui clay shifted from North Otago to Oturehua to make the wicket high-quality, and it would end up hosting representative games for many years.

STEWART Gemmell McKnight was born in Ranfurly in 1935 and was the youngest of five children to Fred and Catherine McKnight.

The family lived on the Rockyside farm in the Ida Valley.

His father died in a mining accident when Stewart was only 5, while his mother died eight years later.

Mr McKnight went to Otago Boys’ High School and was in the Campbell House hostel...