Mr Browne was among 16 other dedicated sports people who were recognised at an awards ceremony held in June at NSW Parliament House.

It was a room with over 800 years worth of service to various sports from around the state and Mr Browne said it was a thrill to be recognised.

“ I was nominated by Murrumbidgee Cricket Council and they sent that off to Sydney,” he said.

“To beat a lot of those guys from all over the state, I was quite proud of that.” 

Since first becoming involved with the Griffith Cricket Association in 1962, where he was president through the 70s, Mr Browne then moved through the ranks to become a representative at Murrumbidgee Cricket and was chairperson for 25 years before stepping down earlier this year.

Mr Browne also held the position of chairperson for Riverina Cricket in 1991 which he held for 11 years.

During his time he has seen a lot of changes.

“The Griffith Cricket Association has grown from one team, one grade of teams,” he said.

“Now we have reserve grade teams, third-grade teams and now a fourth grade which brings in all of the schools.”

As well being an administrator, Mr Browne is known for his work his does out in the middle as both a curator and an umpire. He has curated four turf wickets around Griffith for many years and played an integral role in getting two wickets into the showground and at Ted Scobie Oval.

The one highlight which sticks with Mr Browne is an encounter with a former Prime Minister at a test match in Sydney.

“I had the pleasure of sitting alongside John Howard for one session at the Sydney test with John Warren from Wollongong and Steve Waugh was batting and John Howard loved Steve Waugh,” he said.

“John and I were sitting outside and a guy came up to us and asked if he could sit with us and we were like yeah no worries come and sit down. 

“We would have had three-quarters of an hour with him just sitting there alone and it was great to just talk about him.”