Renowned media commentator, Graham (Smokey) Dawson, who has spent 40 years in sports broadcasting in Australia and overseas, was the guest speaker at the Rotary Club of Port Fairy's Dinner meeting on 8th October.
"Smokey" Dawson, who has a property in Port Fairy and was attracted to the town because his daughter lives and teaches in the region, has been an occasional visitor to our Rotary Club meetings in the past and therefore agreed to come back to the club and give us an enlightening talk on his career.

Graham is a member of the Rotary Club of Heidelberg in Melbourne and was drawn into Rotary after he was awarded a Paul Harris Fellowship for his community service in raising funds for community causes over 40 years.

He enthusiastically told us how the seeds to his long-standing career emanated from his toddler years when, as a three-year old, he used to do his own "radio broadcasts" about the cricket.  He spent many years as an ABC cricket commentator but has also called 39 football grand finals, Commonwealth Games and Olympic events over the course of his illustrious career.  Needless to say, he has been in first had contact with many of the iconic Australian and world sports personalities from Keith Miller to Shane Warne, AFL champions and many of our elite Olympic athletes.  He is still active in sports commentating having called some 66 AFL games on SEN this season.  A passionate Hawthorn member for 55 years he has his heart into football.

It would be impossible to capture all that Graham delivered in his 40 minute address to the Club but, one point he was at pains to impress on the group, was drawn from his own passion to be a sports commentator at such an earlier age and the fact that his dream was eventually realised.  He said he had a dream in life from pre-school age to be a commentator and he said that parents grandparents, whoever "if you see that kids have a talent or similar dream they should do everything to encourage them to live that dream".

Graham concluded his entertaining talk by covering what he thought were the most memorable sporting moments he has witnessed.  These covered everything from the 1970 Grand Final when Carlton came back from a 44 point half-time deficit to defeat Collingwood by 10 points, to Kieran Perkins' 1500 metre swimming triumph in the Atlanta Olympics.

Rotarian, John Clue, thanked Smokey for taking the trouble to travel to Port Fairy to deliver such an interesting talk.Graham (Smokey) Dawson