Kempsey sporting legend, the late Lloyd Hudson, has been honoured by the Macleay Valley Mustangs and Kempsey Dragons as the entrance to Verge St Stadium has been renamed as the Lloyd Hudson Memorial Gates.
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Inaugural Mustangs president Mike Spalding idolised Lloyd and was instrumental in organising the memorial gates.
“Everyone in town loved him, he was well respected and did what he could to help a lot of people,” Mr Spadling said.
“Lloyd put so much into sport in the Macleay Valley, particularly rugby league and boxing.
“He was a good, strong and straightforward man who cared about the Macleay, the community and sport.”
Lloyd, who passed away on November 2, 2015 aged 92, played 89 first grade rugby league games for North Sydney and represented NSW against Queensland twice.
The prop also had success with the boxing gloves, as he won the Australian Army Heavyweight title during his five years of service.
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In January 1942, in the midst of World War II, Lloyd enlisted in the Australian Army and was with the Australian Engineers Store Base in various places on the Australian East Coast.
In late 1943 he moved on to New Guinea, based around Port Moreseby, for active service. Lloyd remained there until the end of the war before he was demobbed in November 1946.
During his time with the Australian Army, Lloyd played little rugby league but once he returned to Kempsey he was straight back on the footy field.
In 1947 he played with Central Kempsey in the Group 3 competition and stayed with the club for three seasons before he pursued a professional career with North Sydney.
After recording 89 first grade games, Lloyd returned to his hometown in 1956 to captain-coach Central Kempsey.
In his final season, aged 39, Lloyd led Central Kempsey to minor and major premiership success.
Lloyd was an active community member until his final days and gave up a lot of his time to mentor and coach junior rugby league players and boxers.
Lloyd took on various roles, including president, with the Kempsey Dragons, Central Kempsey and then the Mustangs.
Lloyd became the first player from Kempsey to be inducted into the Group 3 Hall of Fame at the end of the 2017 season.
A special thank you goes to Jamie Oran for the use of his cherry picker, to MNC Cranes for providing their crane and to Justin Kennedy from North Coast Steel for donating gear and labourers.
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