Former Test captain Steve Waugh will take time out to look at an autographed photograph he has of Victor Trumper whose death from Bright's disease 100 years ago today forced a nation that was already grieving the loss of so many men at Gallipoli to spiral into further sadness.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Trumper was only 37 when he passed away and as Australia's first genuine star batsman his death was observed throughout the British Empire.
"He's recognised in the pantheon of Australia's great Test cricketers," Waugh said. "He was potentially our first ever great Test batsman and is ranked highly in the echelon of the baggy green. I was lucky enough that when I did a book signing in Tasmania a few years ago someone gave me a signed photo of Victor Trumper, it had been handed down through the family and there was no one left to pass it on to and it was given to me, something I'm grateful for.
"He was a pioneer in the way he played, he was respected and obviously was a great player to watch – he was a standout player in his era and he's stood the test of time because we're still talking about him."
It's been said that no one who saw Trumper and Don Bradman play conceded Bradman was the better batsman and in the century since his death sports historian Geoff Armstrong said Trumper's ability to play the game differently to anyone else drew people to cricket.
"Cricket in those days was pretty boring and he changed the way it was played," he said.
"He would've been good at anything. As an all-round sportsman, he was a good schoolboy rugby player, he was one of the better Aussie rules players in Sydney around the turn of the century and he could throw a cricket ball further than anyone else.
"He was a big hitter and I can only imagine what he'd have been like with one of the big bats the players use now.
"I think he was ahead of his time and his aggressive batting changed the game."
Trumper, who was also one of the founding fathers of rugby league in 1908, was plagued by poor health throughout his career – including the 1903-04 Ashes series when he scored 1, 185, 74, 35, 113, 59, 7, 12, 88 and 0 in the five Tests.
However, his reputation as a decent person who'd do such things as stand outside the public entrance at the SCG to give children their admission has never been tainted over the years.
"He was a very generous man which relates to he was hopeless in business," Armstrong said. "He [owned a sports store and] was forever giving things away."
Today at 12.30pm members of the Australian Cricket Society will pay homage to the legend at his grave in Waverley cemetery.
