Toowoomba barber and sporting champion Greg Gabbett dies aged 76.

Popular Toowoomba community and sporting champion Greg Gabbett has been farewelled after his passing on November 11, aged 76.

Toowoomba barber Greg Gabbett has been farewelled at a funeral after his death on November 11, 2021. Picture: Kevin Farmer

Anyone who has spent a bit of time around Toowoomba would more than likely have heard a story or two from Greg Gabbett.

The beloved barber was farewelled yesterday after his death on November 11, aged 76, following a battle with illness.

For more than 50 years, the Garden City icon owned and operated his West Street business and revelled in sharing a joke and a laugh with his customers between clips of the scissors.

Toowoomba barber Greg Gabbett has retired, Thursday, June 3, 2021. Picture: Kevin Farmer

Beginning a barber’s apprenticeship in Toowoomba as a 14-year-old in 1959, Mr Gabbett once told The Chronicle how he found himself in the the trade of lopping locks.

“There were 11 of us in the family, and I came home from school one day and there was two ads in the paper, one for an apprentice butcher and one for an apprentice barber,” Mr Gabbett said.

“My mother, a very wise woman, pointed to my twin brother and said ‘you will be the butcher’, and she pointed to me and said ‘you will be the barber’, and that was it.”

WHERE IT ALL BEGAN: This picture was taken during the 1965 Carnival of Flowers of the hairdressing salon where apprentice Greg Gabbett completed his apprenticeship with Sid Bousen. The salon (which no longer exists) was in the Tatts Hotel in Margaret St and was decorated out at every carnival.

Mr Gabbett’s influence on Toowoomba extended beyond his work as a barber; as a polocrosse player his team claimed the 1963-64 Queensland Championships during his eight year career.

Also as a noted sprinter, Mr Gabbett competed in gifts across the east coast along with John “Cracker” McDonald, and the sporting champion was recognised with the Under 18 division of the Postle Gift at Pittsworth named in his honour.

Mark Copland sent in this photo of the South Toowoomba Polocrosse A Grade Team who were winners of the 1963-64 Queensland Championships. Pictured are (from left) Greg Gabbett, Ray 'Joe Moore, Harold McClachlan, Graham Geddes, John Bain and Keith Anderson. Photo Contributed

Postle Gift organiser Greg Quinn said Mr Gabbett’s influence on younger athletes would never be forgotten.

“Greg had been involved with the race each year,” he said.

“His enthusiasm on the day has been a huge plus for the event, particularly for young people — his personality is infectious.

“The Arthur Postle Gift is about more than honouring the ‘Crimson Flash’, it’s also about professional athletics and more importantly the whole community.”

Mr Gabbett retired in June this year to spend more time with his three sons and daughter, as well as his 10 grandchildren and great-grandchild.

“I will definitely miss the people, I think that’s the hardest thing because I love all of the people I get to see,” he said at the time.

NAME REMEMBERED: The legacy of former Toowoomba barber and sprint champion Greg Gabbett, pictured here with close friend Kate Morrison, will be remembered after the Under 18 Postle Gift at Pittsworth was renamed in his honour.

“What was brilliant was that I had a rule in my shop that you weren’t allowed to use your mobile phone, and I guess while that didn’t mean people had to talk I definitely was.

“I always liked to give them a joke and a story, and the haircuts are like the jokes they repeat themselves every 10 years.”

Mr Gabbett was the beloved husband of Jennifer (dec’d) and loved father and father-in-law of Dan and Alexia, Tim and Trish, Matt and Lucia. Natalie and Dave; stepfather to Amanda. Cherished grandfather of Nick and Lachie, Annalou, Heath and Wilson, Jenna, Benjamin and Sebastian, Sienna and Hayden, George, and great-grandfather to Effie.