By Isaac Murphy
Mention the name ‘Keith’ to anyone in and around the Ipswich Greyhound Club and everyone knows you’re talking about Keith Sternberg.
The man who’s made a habit of always asking after others before himself got some well-deserved attention at Ipswich last Saturday night, with family and friends converging to celebrate the jack of all trades.
Keith turned 91 in May, and was still driving the Meals on Wheels car up until a few months ago, and it was those kinds of acts that inspired the night.
“Keith’s contribution to the greyhound family through all my time as a trainer and I’m sure long before that has been huge,” Warren Nicholls said.
“He’s recently celebrated his 91st birthday and we thought we needed to do something to look after someone like him because they’re few and far between - not just in this game but life in general.
“You don’t want to take someone like that for granted, all the little things he does to help trainers out sometimes you just think it’s normal, but we’d be lost without him especially at Ipswich which is why we chose the club for the celebration.”
Keith’s son and prominent local vet Greg Sternberg said family and friends had come from near and far to ensure they were there for the big night.
“We ended up hiring a minibus to get the lot of us to the club, there was family and friends from all over Warwick, Laidley and Townsville - everyone made the effort to get there on the night,” Greg Sternberg said.
“As good as it was to have all the family there, I take my hat off to the greyhound industry as well, there were plenty of people there who didn’t have dogs in on the night that wanted to make sure they came and gave Dad his well wishes.”
The event was a complete surprise for Keith and once he got around to say hello to everyone, some old friends were keen to get up and pay tribute.
“I got up and said a few words about the importance of looking after each other a bit more with nights like this, but I’m a bit of a choker when I get in front of the microphone, so I quickly handed over to Tony Zammit, Merv Page and Tony Brett who’ve known him the longest and finally Greg - Keith’s son - got up and thanked everyone for coming,” Nicholls said.
“It was a real bonus for the rest of us to hear some old stories about him that we weren’t around for and fantastic to have Greg speak on behalf of the family who obviously cherish him, greyhounds or no greyhounds.
“We had the little corporate room set up for the family and friends, so we just let them go in there and enjoy their night while we got to racing.”
Keith is as stoic as they come, but his son Greg said he saw a rare bit of emotion out of his Dad, the night meaning a lot to the whole family.
“We definitely surprised him, he was down at the kennel blocks doing his thing and we were waiting in one of the rooms upstairs, when we walked in we all walked out and gave him a hug and a kiss - it took him a minute to process it all but he was pretty happy,” Sternberg said.
“When we walked out and filed past him, I noticed a tear in his eye which is just about as much as he’ll give you, he felt the love.
“We listened to plenty of kind words and I said a few myself and we got down to catching up, I’m glad it was a public holiday on Monday because there were a few sore heads.”
Warren Nicholls said Keith was given the night off from catching and kennelling duties, but they weren’t able to keep him down all night.
“Tracey (Nicholls) looked after all his catching duties through the night, but a lot of other people chipped in as well with everything he usually gets up to on a Saturday night,” Nicholls said.
“We couldn’t keep the stubborn old bugger down, he demanded he come out and catch Tony’s (Brett) dogs in race eight and nine, catching a winner where everyone gave him a standing ovation.
“I asked him jokingly at the start of the night how much it would take to get him catching for my kennel, but he wouldn’t budge, he’s as loyal as anything to Tony.”
Keith has been the number one catcher for Queensland’s premier trainer Tony Brett for 16 years now, and the trainer had an inkling he might come out and collect $1.40 shot Hara’s Clyde.
“He’d done the right thing and hadn’t caught a dog all night but we knew by race eight or nine he’d be getting a bit itchy, so he strode down to get Hara’s Clyde and Valentino Fox ready like it was any other week,” Tony Brett said.
“We got one winner home for him, when he probably wanted two, but everyone gave him a good hand when he came back in - it was a nice moment.”
Brett said Keith had been a key ingredient to his success over the years, always putting his hand up when something needed to be done.
“The first dog Keith caught for me was back in 2004, so we’re at 16 years together and still going strong, whether it’s a fast one or a slow one, he’s out there doing his job,” he said.
“I couldn’t do without him, he’s far more than a catcher for me now, he fixes all of my muzzles, books all my trials at Ipswich and any extra jobs he’ll track it down and get it done.”
Like many others, Brett was grateful that Nicholls came up with the idea, something that should happen a bit more.
“Credit to Warren and Tracey Nicholls for organising the night, it’s the sort of thing you do after people pass away, that’s not saying he’s going anywhere soon - I think he’ll outlive me,” Brett said.
“My wife Fleur said to me how good is this to celebrate someone just because they deserve it, it’s something we need to do more of.
“I’m sure it gave Keith a huge boost, not that he needs motivation to do what he does - he loves it - but it was a great night all round.”