MORE than 40 years ago, Leigh Maughan started chasing a dream that would eventually become the reality now known as the Newcastle Knights.
Anyone with any understanding of the Knights' history will appreciate why Maughan is recognised as the club's founding father.
In the 1970s, in his capacity as a multi-media personality, Maughan started spruiking the concept of fielding a Newcastle team in the best rugby league competition in the world, the NSWRL premiership.
He joined forces with real-estate agent Gerry Edser and prominent solicitor Michael Hill, and after initially encountering resistance from indignant Newcastle RL clubs, slowly but surely they started to garner support.
The announcement in April, 1987, that three teams - Brisbane, Gold Coast and Newcastle - would be added to the NSWRL competition was the culmination of a decade of Maughan's hard work.
But his job was not finished. After accepting the position of the Knights' inaugural marketing manager, he was the man responsible for selling a team of no-names to the community. That Newcastle were able to attract a 26,340-strong turnout to their first premiership match, against Parramatta, and then finished the 1988 season with the best average crowd (20,617) in the league, is all that needs to be said about Maughan's ability to spread the gospel.
Twenty years later, long after he had retired, Maughan returned to serve on the Knights' board of directors, at a time when the club was in dire straits financially and battling to stay afloat.
Last month, Maughan's contributions were recognised when he was awarded the Order of Australia Medal for his service to rugby league.
On a less-formal level, it was pleasing to observe the reception he enjoyed at a Men of League luncheon at Soldiers Point last week.
From club legends, to current officials to new coach Adam O'Brien, they all made a much-deserved fuss over "Lethal" Leigh.
All of which got me thinking that perhaps the Knights' incumbent owners, the Wests Group, should consider doing likewise, given that Maughan, like the rest of us, is not as young as he used to be.
Regardless of the on-field capitulation last season that cost coach Nathan Brown his job, Wests deserve great kudos for their management of the Knights since assuming ownership of the city's NRL flagship in November, 2017.
Each of their first two seasons have delivered profits in the vicinity of $1 million.
They have committed to spending at least $10 million on a Centre of Excellence, although it appears anyone's guess when construction will actually start.
They have assembled a quality playing roster, employed the most promising young coach on the market in former Melbourne and Roosters assistant O'Brien, secured record sponsorship levels and increased their average home crowd by 18 per cent in the space of two years.
And after last year's crackdown on off-field misbehaviour, it seems their players have finally copped the tip and accepted their responsibilities as role models.
But if there is one criticism of Wests - and this is a sentiment that has been expressed to me by a number of influential people who go way back - it is that they trade on the Knights' history, without necessarily embracing it.
I was interested to read quotes recently from Knights/Wests CEO Phil Gardner, who revealed "considerable funds" would be invested in a "Legends Room" at the Centre of Excellence.
Fans will no doubt welcome that news, but there are a couple of other issues that could be addressed for comparatively little expense.
One example I have highlighted previously is that life members of the original Knights club, including Maughan, have been left in no-man's land. The entity founded in 1987 has effectively been defunct since Nathan Tinkler's 2011 takeover, so what exactly are these club stalwarts now life members of?
Surely some sort of official transition process can't be too hard to arrange.
The second, more obvious, oversight has been the club's Hall of Fame.
Founded in 2012, the Hall of Fame featured five inaugural inductees: Allan McMahon, Michael Hagan, Paul Harragon, Andrew Johns and Matthew Gidley.
Two years later, Tony Butterfield, Mark Sargent and Danny Buderus were added.
Since then, nothing. It just appears to have fallen by the wayside.
After a five-year hiatus, I'd have thought the time to consider the merits of Kurt Gidley, Robbie O'Davis, Steve Simpson, Marc Glanville and Malcolm Reilly, to name but a few, was long overdue.
All of which brings me back to Leigh Maughan.
My understanding is that, under the Hall of Fame's original charter, only players and coaches were to be considered.
I'd suggest those parameters should be expanded, in exceptional circumstances, and note that in the American NFL Hall of Fame, inductees include administrators, owners, founders and commissioners. In the NBA basketball, referees even get a start.
Leigh Maughan may never have pulled on a boot for the Newcastle Knights, but it's hard to think of anyone more worthy of Hall of Fame status.
