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If ever two men in the Shark tank deserved to be saluted over the historic NRL premiership win it’s Damian Keogh and Craig Airey.
Keogh, chairman of the Sharks Board since 2013 and former champion basketballer, and Airey, elected a Sharks director at the same time, is also a former Sharks player.
But there’s a further common bond between them, of greater import.
With the club on virtual life support, Keogh and Airey tipped in $1.5 million each of their hard-earned to save the club from either extinction or the financial toilet.
By any standards, that was a huge double call.
Had they not made such an extreme offer, it would be fair to say the Sharks wouldn’t have been in last Sunday night’s decider, and the Shire wouldn’t be enjoying such ecstatic celebrations.
Keogh and Airey will be repaid when the club’s $300 million development is up and running, and that won’t be sometime soon.
There’s nothing new in Damian Keogh taking a back seat in the Sharks’ stunning success.
He never sought the limelight as captain of the Sydney Kings, and three-time Olympian – the limelight found him.
Always modest and humble in success, Keogh’s CV is right off the top shelf.
He went to the 1984, 1988, and 1992 Olympics, was selected for three world championships in 1982, 1990, and 1994, chalking up 207 internationals in Australian colours.
Melbourne-born, Keogh played 400-plus games for the Sydney Kings and was selected in the all-time Kings 25-year anniversary team.
As a direct result Keogh has been inducted in the NBL Hall of Fame, and the NSW Hall of Champions.
He was one helluva basketballer, with leadership his calling.
And that’s exactly why he so easily made the transition from the basketball court to the corporate world in 2011 as CEO of Val Morgan advertising in 1600 cinemas around Australia, and in 2014 as CEO of Hoyts in Australia and New Zealand.
But as chairman of the Sharks he’s made countless thousands in the Shire stand a whole lot taller since Sunday night.
The smiles look permanent.
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