Mr Maher was a businessman, developer, journalist and prominent in Gosford and Coastal life for many years. He named his newspaper the Central Coast Express after the steam train that famously served our region.
The name stuck with Mr Maher’s personal campaign and the whole region became known as the Central Coast.
Mr Maher then played a key role in starting the Central Coast leagues Club in an old factory in Georgiana Tce, just around the corner from the Express and the old Graham Park sports field.
In between was an area of land and old home in Dane Dr that became the massive Central Coast Leagues Club we know today and the area on the southern end was named Ray Maher field in his honor,
Mr Maher eventually sold the Express to Kerry Packer, but he wasn’t adverse to keeping an eye on the paper and those running it.
When I was executive editor of the Express, Mr Maher would occasionally arrive to tell me where I was going wrong and what he expected of the publication
And Mr Maher knew the value of “earning a quid”. Fox Sports manager Steve Crawley told me he went to Gosford Greyhounds one evening and was surprised to see Mr Maher still carrying out his job as a “stringer” for a Sydney media outlet.
One of my workmates at the Express, which became the Express Advocate under the new Murdoch ownership, was Ray Maher’s grandson, the leading sports journalist Steve Maher.
“He was a good man: Hard but tough,” Steven told me in reminiscing about his grandfather.
“His list of achievements is extensive but for me the fact he was the man who named it the Central Coast, that’s what stands out for me”
Central Coast Leagues Club manager Michael Dowling was full of praise for the club’s founder.
“Ray initiated the term ‘Central Coast’ in the early 1950s after recognising that the coastal strip and hinterland separating Newcastle and Sydney needed a sense of identity that distinguished it from the overshadowing cities.
“As founder of Central Coast Leagues Club in 1954, Ray was the longest serving Chairman of any licensed Club in NSW, serving 52 years unopposed as the Chairman of Directors from 1954 until his retirement in 2006.
- DALLAS SHERRINGHAM
