To some, Dick Osborn was one of the lucky ones rescued from Maitland’s raging floodwaters of 1955.
To many he was the essence of harness racing in the Hunter Valley and further afield.
But to all he was one of nature’s gentlemen.
Mr Osborn, of Sawyers Gully, died on Tuesday and tributes for the 83-year-old have flowed in from the community.
“One of nature’s gentlemen was Dick Osborn,” Maitland Harness Racing Club president Richard Earnshaw said.
“He was one of the great blokes of harness racing.”
Long-time friend, founding president of the Caduceus Club and former harness racing journalist Terry Radley echoed those sentiments.
“He was a real gentleman,” he said.
“A gentle person who I never remember having words with anyone.”
Mr Radley said this personality translated to the track, a place Mr Osborn spent most of his days.
“He was a very gifted horseman,” he said.
“And I can’t remember him ever being suspended for rough driving and he never protested, he just refused, because he didn’t think it was right.”
Mr Osborn was introduced to the sport by his father Harry, who had inherited the interest from road races conducted in Morpeth by his father.
At age 14, Mr Osborn drove the first of his 1041 winners,at Maitland in 1945 with Our Pick saluting at a charity gymkhana.
Four years later Mr Osborn created history when he won the first race at the first night meeting in Newcastle on board Garylyn.
By the time his career ended almost half a century later in the early 1990s following a race fall at Wyong, Mr Osborn had collected 33 Hunter Valley premierships, 17 for training and 16 for driving.
In one of his final interviews with the Maitland Mercury, Mr Osborn said a highlight from his time in the gig was a runner called Square Trotter.
“Square Trotter won three in a row at Harold Park,” Mr Osborn said in 2010.
“He was one of the best I have driven – I have driven a lot of horses but they were not up to his standard.”
This was the same time Mr Osborn became the first harness racing identity inducted into the Hunter Sporting Hall of Fame.