My mate Don Tallon: Back in a time when cricket was cricket
MEMORIES came flooding back for Bob De Gunst when he saw a photo of cricket great Don Tallon in Monday's NewsMail.
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MEMORIES came flooding back for Bob De Gunst when he saw a photo of cricket great Don Tallon in Monday's NewsMail.
The image, from the 1960s, showed Mr Tallon working as a storekeeper in a premises now occupied by popular cafe Oodies.
Mr De Gunst, a nephew of Bundaberg's singing star Molly De Gunst, has dedicated much of his life to cricket in the region.
The number three oval at Kendalls Flat is even named in his honour.
At the age of 16, Mr De Gunst claimed the highest score of the season.
"I had 55 wickets one season," Mr De Gunst said.
His love of cricket is how he came to know Mr Tallon and in later years they also became golfing buddies.
"I played cricket with him and against him," he said.
"He played it hard. He played Test cricket but he played it fair - none of the sledging that goes on these days."
Mr Tallon was a tough opponent, but there was one occasion where Mr De Gunst managed to hit him for six.
It's something the namesake of Bundaberg's "new bridge", the Tallon Bridge, had a little "grumble" about.
Talking about a photo of himself and Mr Tallon tossing a coin on the field, Mr De Gunst remarked "that's the sort of clothing we wore when we were playing in Bundaberg".
A lot has changed over the years and Mr De Gunst says cricket is no exception.
"It's something else that money's ruined," he said.
When cricketers back then weren't tossing a ball they could be found playing a game of marbles or heading to the Prince of Wales Hotel, which is now the East Bundaberg Backpackers.
"There's too much TV and iPods and mobile phones now," Mr De Gunst said, recalling a time in the mid-70s when he was the junior cricket president.
"There were over 40 junior cricket teams in those days, now there are maybe about a dozen," he said.
As a junior cricket president, Mr De Gunst said he'd spend plenty of time going around local schools "looking for junior cricket teams".
The players would then head to Kendalls Flat of a weekend and put their skills to the test.
Mr De Gunst remembers Mr Tallon as good company.
"He was very quiet, he never said much at all," he said.
"I found him quite good and I enjoyed his company."
In fact Mr De Gunst remembers one junior carnival in Bundaberg during the '70s when the manager of a Brisbane team said he had a young wicket keeper who he believed had potential and wanted to meet Mr Tallon.
Mr De Gunst teed up the meeting and headed to "Don's place" to ask for some tips.
"Don got up and showed him how to glove a ball and move his feet and all the rest of it," he said.
That boy would grow up to become champion cricketer Peter Anderson.
Mr De Gunst also fondly remembers another occasion when cricket star Ron Archer was sent to Bundaberg and stayed at the Grand Hotel during the 1950s.
They met to talk cricket and Mr De Gunst came away with a superbly made cricket bat from Sussex that cost five pounds at a time when that was a day's wages.
From clearing three-foot high rhodes grass to pave the way for game fields at Kendalls Flat to staggering home from a good session at the Prince of Wales, Mr De Gunst was always a doer.
"I was never a good watcher of cricket," he said.
Mr Tallon passed away in September 1984.
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