Australian Squash trailblazer Geoff Hunt has become the second squash player to be elevated to Legend status in the Sport Australia Hall of Fame.

Hunt’s elevation was celebrated at the annual Sport Australia Hall of Fame Induction & Awards Gala Dinner at Crown Palladium in Melbourne on Monday 18 November.

The below is adapted from an article published by Squash Australia.

Hunt combined elite talent, an immense work ethic, determination, discipline and dogged court craft to become one of the greatest squash players, as well as helping to grow squash’s popularity around the world.

Inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame as an Athlete Member in 1985, Hunt was world No.1 from 1975 to 1980. He won four World Open Squash Championships in five years, including the inaugural title in 1976.

A triple World Amateur Champion before turning professional aged 24, Hunt claimed 178 of the 215 tournaments he contested over two decades of stunning dominance, yet remained an understated model of humility and the epitome of decency and fair play.

At home, he was an eight-time national champion. Internationally, he claimed eight British Opens (1969, 1974, 1976-81) before a stress fracture of the lower vertebrae and osteoarthritis prompted a reluctant retirement in 1982.

Perhaps most famously, that last British Open final was a marathon encounter against the Pakistani prodigy Jahangir Khan, in which Hunt proudly fought through back pain and past an opponent half his age to win in over two hours.

Having gone on to become a long-term high performance coach and manager, the Gold Coast-based Victorian is thrilled and humbled to be elevated as a Legend in the Sport Australia Hall of Fame.

“It was one of those unexpected things and it was a lovely surprise,” said Hunt, just the second Legend from squash, after the great Heather McKay, who was elevated in 2000. “If Heather’s a Legend and I’m a Legend, well goodness me, I feel extremely honoured to be alongside her.

“I’ve always thought Heather deserved more than what she got in terms of publicity, but that’s partly due to her being a reserved lady who went about her business in her own undemonstrative way.

“But she did a huge amount and her record in sport – including hockey and veterans’ tennis – was unbelievable. So when she was elevated to that level, I thought ‘Gee, she deserves it, she’s one of Australia’s greatest ever sporting people’, and I never really put myself in that sort of category to be honest, with people like Don Bradman and Dawn Fraser and Heather.

“It’s unbelievable to be considered a Legend by my peers in the sporting world. It’s almost hard for me to get my head around believing that is the case, coming from a sport that wasn’t initially very well-known. I must admit that during my career it certainly got a lot of publicity with Heather and then me and my long-time friend Kenny Hiscoe, who was a mentor to me. So squash did end up being quite a big sport in the end.

“But certainly I never anticipated being in the Sport Australia Hall of Fame or anything like that. All I was doing was playing the game I love.’’