Norm Provan: family remembers rugby league Immortal

The daughter of NRL legend Norm Provan has paid tribute to her ‘gentleman’ dad describing him as a modest man who was good to everyone around him.

Norm Provan was – quite literally – a giant of Australian rugby league, almost 2m tall and with 10 straight premierships under his belt.

He was an Immortal, a member of the Team of the Century, one of the best second rowers of all time and the tall titan on the NRL trophy. But Provan was also a consummate family man.

Provan is survived by a devoted family residing across Queensland and NSW, including wife Lynne, daughter Suzanne, sons Noel, Douglas and Nathan, six grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.

Norm and Lynne Provan. Picture: Julie Kiriacoudis

“There are no words – he was such a gentleman, and so modest, and so good to everyone around him,” daughter Suzanne McLeod said.

“He was quite special, it’s impossible to describe what he was to me.”

Mrs McLeod made a tribute to Provan in 2018 when he was crowned the 12th Immortal of rugby league, accepting the honour on his behalf.

Norm Provan during his rugby league years.

“I’ve always looked up to Dad, he’s always been immortal to us,” Mrs McLeod told rugby league presenter Yvonne O’Keefe.

“He is a very kind person – he had a high level of what you lived up to, but he led that. We were like what he was like.”

Sue McLeod with Provan’s Immortal honour.

Provan and Mrs McLeod in 2008.

The night Provan became an Immortal, O’Keefe also paid tribute to a man who was “born to lead” with his “honesty, ambition, dignity and will to win.”

Provan was also a civic-minded man, serving on Sutherland Shire Council in the late 60s and early 70s, and sold electrical goods at his own stores – Norm Provan Discounts – until he relocated to Queensland in more recent years.