Tobacco farms dotted the Ovens Valley landscape in the 1960s and one of them briefly was home to a couple who had fled Yugoslavia at the end of World War 2 and initially settled in Manjimup in country Western Australia before heading east.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Vic and Mary Kekovich found their way to Nug Nug via Gunbower to continue growing tobacco.
They were also the parents of two sons, who would play in VFL premiership teams with different clubs, and another son tragically killed on the cusp of possibly being the best of them all.
Brian Kekovich was the first to find his way to the big smoke after his Myrtleford coach Martin Cross tipped off his former club, Carlton, about his talents at the end 1966 after booting 49 goals for the season.
The Saints initially only released Kekovich for six match permits in 1967 and Myrtleford's initial refusal to clear him to the Blues was big news for the Melbourne media.
But with Kekovich reluctant to return home a deal had to be struck.
The kick-back for the Saints was coach Ron Barassi agreeing to bring the Blues to Myrtleford for a practice match the following year.
The Blues won the 1968 VFL flag with Kekovich booting four of the Blues' seven goals in a low-scoring grand final against Essendon.
Sam Kekovich was bursting onto the scene at the same time and like his brother topped the Saints' goal-kicking in 1967 from centre half-forward with 59 goals after playing in the club's reserves flag the previous year.
The younger Kekovich didn't lack in the confidence stakes and Cross had also given the Blues the rails run on Sam, but were thwarted by the introduction of country zoning.
After booting 13 goals in the first four rounds of 1968, North Melbourne naturally desperately wanted him.
"I said to our coach Keith McKenzie there is a kid up there, 16 years of age, who would walk into our side," Kangaroos secretary at the time, Ron Joseph, said.
"Keith was naturally keen to make it happen, but our president Tony Trainor wasn't.
"He knew zoning had been introduced to help clubs like North Melbourne and wanted to make sure we played by the rules.
"It was very honourable and the sort of bloke he was."
But Joseph was about to become public enemy No.1 in Myrtleford by wooing Kekovich away after the season had started.
An amount of $2000 to be paid to the Kekovich family was sourced from an SP bookie in return for Sam being guaranteed a job and somewhere to live.
In a further sweetener the Kangaroos paid for younger brother Michael to attend Trinity Grammar School where Joseph was a past student.
But the Saints were filthy.
"I'm pretty sure the rules at the time meant Sam could automatically play six games on permits, but after he had played six he needed a clearance," Joseph said.
"We were in this little office in a pub and I could see I was getting nowhere.
"In those days they objected to clubs just walking in and taking their players and not having any respect for them trying to win a premiership.
"There were arguments and yelling.
"They didn't get a cracker and that was one of the issues we had with clubs and the Ovens and Murray as a league, but later on they certainly did."
Kekovich had trained with Myrtleford the same night all the parties including Saints president Len Ablett, coach Martin Cross and Joseph met in the Myrtleford Hotel operated by Dick Dwyer.
"There was a very strained argy, bargy between Joseph and the committee," Kekovich said.
"They were adamant they wanted me to stay until the end of the year, but I was adamant I wanted to leave.
"It got very, very messy and I think they wanted to kill Joseph, who was lucky to get out of town."
Anger towards North Melbourne went off the charts when a letter arrived from the Kangaroos some weeks later with a cheque for the paltry sum of $18 to meet any out of pocket expenses Kekovich had incurred playing early in 1968 for the Saints.
Jim Matassoni was club treasurer at the time and had a central role in dealings with North Melbourne.
"We just wanted to be shown some courtesy," he said.
"They just pulled up at the ground one night on the far side, called him over, put him in the car and took off.
"We wouldn't clear him because we were building a side that was trying to win a bloody premiership.
"He was going to be an important player for us.
"We had dealings with Melbourne and Carlton and they acted like business people.
"When Carlton wanted Brian Kekovich they didn't just come up and say 'we will put a clearance in and you are coming to play for us'.
"What they did was invite the committee down to Carlton and we sat around the board table and asked 'what can we do because we want Brian to come down and play for us'.
"They agreed to play a practice match up at Myrtleford and from memory we charged 20 cents per ticket and ended up with a $1000 gate.
"That was the difference."
Sam never played for Myrtleford again and the Saints were bundled out of the 1968 finals series in straight sets.
Kekovich left town with the North Melbourne delegation after the fiery meeting at the pub and made his senior debut against Geelong the following Saturday.
Joseph was right about his talent.
'Slammin Sam', as he was dubbed by Lou Richards, was an instant success.
"On World of Sport the next day after he made his debut, Jack Dyer said: 'He is going to be anything this kid. I've never seen anything like him'." Joseph said.
Kekovich played 13 games in his first season, won the club's best and fairest in his second and was a member of North's first VFL premiership team in 1975.
But Sam also attracted headlines for his off-field exploits.
"In many respects he exposed North a bit," Joseph said.
"Suddenly we had this out and out champion on our hands, who was attracting enormous publicity.
"He was front and back page of the paper and we as a club didn't know how to handle him.
"I was a young secretary and we made some mistakes.
"We let him get away with things we shouldn't have like being late to training and not turning up to training.
"He very quickly fell into the hands of people you wouldn't piss on if they were on fire, but through all that he played some brilliant football."
Michael Kekovich was also destined for football greatness before tragedy struck in late June 1971
He had been signed by the Kangaroos at the age of 14 and was a schoolboy star with Trinity Grammar playing in the ruck.
Kekovich had some epic battles with Assumption College's Peter "Crackers" Keenan, who would later play in a premiership team with North Melbourne.
His football priority was Trinity, but he still managed to win the best first-year player for the Kangaroos under-19s.
"You would have to say Michael would have been a giant success in football," Joseph said.
But sadly the football world was rocked when news broke he had been hit by a car while jogging home from a match for Trinity earlier in the day.
"I still have trouble talking about it," Joseph said.
"He was a beautiful kid, totally different to Brian and Sam.
"He loved Ron Clarke and somewhere along the line became fascinated with what he had achieved."
1970: The Year of the Saints will be released next week. The 72-page book about Myrtleford's one and only Ovens and Murray league premiership can be purchased at newsXpress Myrtleford, Edgars Books & News, Wangaratta and Mahonys Newsagency, Wodonga. Orders can also be placed at email: davidandliz5@bigpond.com.au
