THE EXTRAORDINARY REACTION TO Richie Benaud’s death in April 2015 was born of an international respect that is the preserve of a very select group of people. Even the millions who did not know him felt somehow that they did, such was his command of the television medium. He was the ultimate communicator.
To those who did know him personally — as a sportsman, as a television commentator and more importantly as a man — Richie’s passing meant so much more. It seemed there was so much to say, so much to thank him for, so much to acknowledge. This book has come about to give expression to those people — the many friends and associates whose lives Richie Benaud touched in such positive ways.
When the idea of such a commemoration was conceived, it was conveyed to Daphne Benaud, who embraced it. So did Richie’s sons Greg and Jeff and his brother John, himself an accomplished Test cricketer. The Benaud family has provided valued support and encouragement throughout the gathering of so many personal reflections.
The book grew as a seamless spin-off from a tribute event held on Wednesday, April 15, 2015, at Richie’s home golf club, the Australian, at Kensington in Sydney. At an afternoon gathering of family and friends, countless stories were shared — publicly and privately — beginning a process that ultimately expanded across the globe, producing an especially rich harvest for these pages. In total, the tales told illuminate the many highways and byways of an extraordinary life.
In inviting the contributions that fill the following pages, we have tried to encompass the full breadth of Richie’s life. Many of the stories are from cricketers who played with or against him in some famous encounters. Some are from people who knew him as a child and grew up with him. There are those who worked with him, in press boxes and commentary boxes around the world. There are tales of summer days in the south of France, of the travails of maintaining his fabled Sunbeam Alpine motor car, and stories of innumerable acts of kindness and comedy.
The gathering of such stories has been tinged with sadness, too. We approached 93-year-old Arthur Morris, Richie’s captain when he made his first-class debut for NSW in December 1948. Arthur responded with enthusiasm.
‘Richie,’ he said, ‘what a wonderful boy he was. I did spend a lot of time with those young blokes … Richie and Jimmy Burke and the others. I’m very happy to talk about them, but can we do it next week? I have to have my hip replaced, but I’ll only be in hospital three days.’
We waited three weeks and rang again. Arthur had fallen a couple of times and was feeling poorly. ‘Could we leave it another week?’ he asked. Sadly, he died before we could hear his stories, one champion on another. Arthur’s respect for Richie would surely have been matched by Richie’s respect for Arthur, also one of the game’s true gentlemen, whose outstanding career placed him in Australian cricket’s Team of the Century.
Respect is perhaps the word which best sums up the 90-odd contributions gathered in this book. Respect for the Benaud talent, for the work ethic and the consistency of it, for the gentle nature of his persona, for the way in which he put the game before himself, for the humility he maintained in the face of incredible celebrity and for the many kindnesses he offered on so many fronts.
The tales told here also were told out of an overarching affection. As John Benaud writes in the foreword, there will be many things revealed here that you did not know about Richie Benaud. Of his youth, of his family, of his early working life, of the hard yards necessary to get him to the very pinnacle of his sporting and working careers.
Richie came from a remarkable family. His parents lived through hard times, and instilled in their sons a high character, a sense of fairness and responsibility in the way they lived their lives. Richie’s father Lou was a fine cricketer who gave him a love of the game. His brother John was a rich talent, too, both as a NSW captain and as a hard-hitting batsman of Test-match quality. John was also a high-achieving journalist, as sports editor and then editor of the Sydney afternoon paper The Sun.
The people who have contributed to this book did so with enthusiasm and a genuine sense that it was an honourable thing to do — to pay homage, in their own particular way, to a man who had been in many cases central to their lives. The stories are rich and heartfelt, poignant and funny, revealing and respectful.
Together they paint a wonderfully expansive and varied picture of Richie Benaud … the man behind the legend.