Tongala’s Bob (Robert) Dawson can lay claim to holding several records — he is among the oldest residents of the area (having celebrated his 102nd birthday last week), he has the rare honour of having won three different football league best-and-fairest awards and, probably most interestingly, he is the oldest living player of the St Kilda Football Club.
Fittingly there was a St Kilda emblem in the centre of his 102nd birthday cake when he and about 30 family members celebrated the occasion at the Tongala RSL Hall on January 3.
With a glass of beer in one hand and the knife in the other, Bob was no doubt wishing for his Saints to return to premiership contention, having seen only one St Kilda premiership in his lifetime — the Saints only title in 1966.
Bob played four games after being recruited from Elmore to Moorabbin in 1941. Listed at 169cm and 67kg he played four games that year before enlisting in the army and serving overseas the following year.
He returned from war in 1946, and while playing with Elmore, won the Bendigo league’s Michelsen Medal. He followed that up by winning the Morrison Medal in 1950 while coaching Tongala.
He also won an Echuca league best-and-fairest award, while being responsible for starting the under-17 competition. A cup in his honour is presented to the premiership team each year.
And he still gets down, when he can, to watch Tongala play on a weekend.