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Russell Keays, 1893 (Footballer)
Russell Babington Keays, woolbuyer, died in an earthquake in Japan in 1923.
He was educated at Geelong College from 1891 to 1893 playing in the 1st Football Team of 1893. He donated the original Tennis Honour Boards for installation in Norman Morrison Memorial hall in 1915.
Pegasus referred to them as of
‘chaste design and beautifully carved.’ For many years he was a committee member of the OGCA and was a notable organizer of the Jubilee festivities of 1911.
In 1923, he, along with Thomas Southam Hawkes, father of the renowned sportsmen
Jack Bailey Hawkes (1899-1990) and Tom Bailey Hawkes (1898-1948) who both attended the School, was tragically killed in an earthquake in Yokohama, Japan.
Russell Keays was the son of John Russell Keays and Susan nee Orme and born on 6 July 1877. His brother, Rev. Charles Ernest Orme Keays (1875-1957 also attended the College from 1887.
Sources: Pegasus December 1915 p 5; Pegasus December 1923 p 41.