He was Corowa Golf Club's champion 27 times and coached hundreds of young golfers at Corowa and Rutherglen.

He might well have turned professional in his mid-20s but the call of the river town led him to open a sports store there.

It's a decision he never regretted and he did, after all, get to play with the likes of Gary Player when the South African golfer visited Corowa for an exhibition game.

"And I could swing a tennis racquet pretty well,'' he said.

He coached generations in tennis and recalls how old racquets gave him a muscular frame.

"They used to be strung by hand and that was hard work pulling the strings tight,'' he said.

By organising tennis exhibition games locally he became mates with, for instance, Ken Rosewall and Merv Rose.

Mr Kennedy is passionate about Corowa as a fine place to raise families and play sport.

His wife, Laurel, died 15 months ago after 68 years of marriage in which they raised two sons, one of whom died young.

Today he is reminded daily of his grandchildren when he gets about town on a golf buggy with the mock rego GRNPA, but gave up golf at 87.

"I played with the golden oldies until I lost my driving licence,'' he said.

He lives in the home he and Laurel built 53 years ago overlooking the "old town golf club" between Riesling Street and the river.

Mr Kennedy thinks Corowa is "fabulous", not just because of the river and sport but because of its shops, health facilities and schools.

Why does he think Corowa so special?

"The people, when something needed to be done they did it, and it's still a pretty close-knit town,'' he said.

The man who spent 45 years on the golf club board said poker machines helped boost Corowa.

"We've had them a long time but I remember when the golf club had only two pokies and we'd take them down the club in a ute for the weekend and bring them back later,'' he said.

"It's changed a bit since then.''