JOHN Kempf played a bit of Under 19 football for Sandringham in 1953. He was the first to admit he was no champion.

But Kempf went on to serve Sandy with such distinction off the ground that he was included in the hall of fame in 2014, alongside great players such as Chad Liddell, David MacGeorge and the full forward he so loved, Nick Sautner.

General manager John Mennie was similarly recognised, and between them the two Johns were for years a constant of the administration.

“Sandringham Football Club, John Kempf speaking,’’ was his cheerful greeting when picking up the phone at the club.

He answered it often because he was there most days, beavering away at the accounts. And he did for no payment, his services volunteered.

Kempf died on Saturday, June 11, after a short battle with an aggressive cancer. He was 82.

His association with Sandringham went back more than 60 years but in an official capacity it began when he was appointed treasurer in 1994, at the urging of president Gary Gilchrist.

Gilchrist and Kempf met in the early 1990s, when Trevor Barker was coaching the Zebras. Gilchrist was friends with Barker and Kempf was sponsoring him.

President and treasurer had a good relationship and were a team within Sandy’s administrative team.

“One more year please mate,’’ Gilchrist would say at the end of the season, and Kempf always agreed to go on.

Gilchrist died in July, 2006 after suffering a stroke on a plane. He’d been president for nine years.

When Sandy presented its first President’s Award in recognition of his contribution to the club, Kempf was the recipient. Both were made life members in 2006 (and in 2010 Kempf received the VFL’s Alec Gillon Award).

The one-more-year routine continued when Gerry Ryan succeeded Gilchrist as president.

“He was a very solid right-hand man for both of us,’’ Ryan said this morning.

As a qualified accountant Kempf was well qualified to look after Sandy’s books. But he did so much more: manned the umpires’ race, bagged ice, put the bins out, whatever needed to be done to keep the football club ticking over. “He was a jack of all trades,’’ Ryan said.

Such was his devotion to Sandringham that when he worked in Sydney he asked the club to send him up tapes of the games.

The registration plates of his car left no one in doubt about his love for the club. They carried the word ‘Zebras’.

“He lived and breathed Sandringham Football Club,’’ Mennie said this morning.

“He went about his job quietly and never wanted any recognition. In this day and age you can’t find volunteers like him.

“He’s a legend of Sandringham, Sandringham through and through. He’ll never be replaced.’’

A funeral service for John Kempf will be held at the WD Rose Chapel in Brighton at 12.30pm on Thursday.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/localfooty/john-kempf-loved-sandringham-so-much-that-the-word-zebras-was-on-his-car-registration-plates/news-story/b2fe2779e3267e96350ec492a80eac1b