DEDICATED: Boy Kemp is remembered for his dedication to his family and generous nature towards all, as well as for his contribution to YMP rugby. Picture supplied
He was one of YMP's great ones.
Boy Kemp, who passed away at his papakainga (ancestral Maori home) at Muriwai last Thursday surrounded by whanau (family), is remembered as much for his dedication to them and generous nature towards all as for his rugby prowess in the back row for YMP.
Padudi Tawehi (Boy) Kemp, of Ngai Tamanuhiri, Ngati Kahungunu and Ngati Tuwharetoa descent, was born at Gisborne to Moana Nui a Kiwa Kemp and Kararaina Hineato (Hine) Walker on February 25, 1948.
Boy was one of 15 siblings (Hine having children from a previous marriage) in the Kemp-Smith family and was the eldest in the Kemp line.
His father, the youngest of four siblings himself and referred to as “The Golden Child”, served in the Royal New Zealand Air Force during World War 2 and recalled that, as an engineer, he didn't fire a shot in anger.
Upon his return home, he attended a dance at the Muriwai Hall, at which his sister Martha introduced him to Hine who, as the eldest child in her family, had left school early to help her parents on their farm.
It was love at first sight.
They lived at Muriwai and never left.
Boy married his own childhood sweetheart, Kate Ngarangione, at the All Saints Church in Muriwai on Valentine's Day, February 14, 1970.
They had three children — Daiminn, of Gisborne, Atareta, of Whangarei, and Michael, of Gisborne.
Boy attended Muriwai School and Gisborne Boys' High School. He did trade training in Wellington and was a builder for firms throughout the North Island.
A member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he was also a member of the management team that helped maintain chapels and facilities into his retirement until health issues made that increasingly difficult.
Boy Kemp began his playing career at openside flanker or No.8 with YMP in 1972 and also became an excellent coach. His YMP under-22 team won the championship in 1986 — the same year in which the premiers won the Lee Brothers Shield for the first time in 54 years.
In 1987, his u22s shared the title with Old Boys.
In 1989, he coached the premiers. They won the first round of the competition, and the Jesse Baddeley Cup as runners-up overall.
Boy played for the YMP premiers captained by club legend Butch Pardoe.
“Boy was a leading hand for Angus Construction, and in the 1970s brought guys who were in Gisborne to work on the new Post Office building to YMP to play rugby,” Pardoe said.
“He did that again when more came for the Kaiti freezing works.
“He played a big part in converting the Mayfair Picture Theatre at Manutuke into our first clubhouse. He brought the boys out to train, then took them back into town, in an Angus Construction van, as not so many owned cars in those days.”
Colin Jones was a leading hand with Boy during construction of the Post Office building.
“One of his big attributes was the ability to communicate with people at their level and you knew where you stood with him,” he said.
“He was honest, sincere — from him I learned organisation and management skills. He drove safety, such as helmets and earmuffs, on the job. He learned from his experiences, analysed things that most of us took for granted and always had ideas.”
Former Poverty Bay Rugby Football Union chairman George Brown remembers Boy's ability to include newcomers, and his passion to help in any way he could.
“I played only a few games with Boy in the prems — he was a senior player in that side — before leaving Gisborne on a cadetship. He helped create a pathway for young players from Muriwai, such as those from the Pohatu and Kemp families, to play for YMP.
“He was a good listener who supported them and their families, too.
“After he'd finished playing, he served on the committee and always asked after the boys, the team. Also, as a builder, he often inquired as to what the club might need doing.”
Boy Kemp made a positive impact upon many lives, not least upon those of his children, 10 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. From them comes this:
“Dad was a role model for his iwi and family. He loved and was dedicated to the development of both while remaining a private, humble and passionate man.
“He also loved a good laugh with his whanau and we made sure he was lost in laughter when we were all together. He encouraged us to be ‘present parents', and help with the workload in our own homes; he liked to hear that we were all working hard and he encouraged us to aspire to develop ourselves professionally.
“Dad had relationships with his mokopuna (grandchildren) in which he had the father-like status of an adored papa (grandfather).”
— by Ben O'Brien-Leaf