“HE was a privilege to work with for so long”.
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On Wednesday Beth Norrie joined in the seemingly endless flood of people paying tribute to Orange sporting legend Carl Sharpe, who passed away on Tuesday morning.
Norrie spent almost three decades working alongside Sharpe at the NSW Department of Sport and Recreation and then at Quality Sporting Services, a central west sporting institution the pair established in 1993.
When funding for coaching in remote areas was cut, the pair had a vision of continuing to provide tutelage to budding junior sportsmen and women across the western area of NSW.
They did in established Quality Sporting Services, which reached even the most remote of locations, enlisting the help of former state and national representatives in coaching kids across a huge range of sports.
Their tireless efforts continued until 2011, when they pulled up stumps.
“He was a privilege to work with for so long, we worked together for 25 or 30 years,” Norrie said.
“A lot of people are going to miss him dearly, and they will be from much wider areas than people think.
“We visited a lot of remote areas over the years and I know how much the kids and the schools loved seeing us come out there, to Broken Hill and the like, with the high profile coaches.
“I know how much he enjoyed it too.”
Norrie explained while Sharpe is known primarily for his exploits in cricket, he had an undying love for sport in general which saw him help found the Orange Eight Day Games and the Orange Sporting Hall of Fame.
“Cricket was always his passion, but he really had a love of all sport,” Norrie said.
“Any sport really, he loved it. He was always so energetic and positive, and always on the go.
“He was very passionate about helping kids, not just in the bigger areas, but all over the place, play sport and improve.
“He was just a fantastic man.”
