Across the years, Perry has at some stage been president of the Wimmera-Mallee Historical Vehicle Society, the now-defunct Horsham Baseball Association and most recently president-elect of the Rotary Club of Horsham.

"I don't know why that is," Perry said. "I'm never the one to put my hand up to say I want to. I just do it when other people ask me too, I guess.

"I believe everyone has to put in a little bit. If people don't put in, these things won't happen."

One of his longest-serving stints is at the Horsham Squash Club, where he has been a committee member for four decades and still competes as a determined player.

Perry first got involved at the club in 1976, shortly after moving to Horsham in his early twenties.

"A couple of mates and I went down for a hit. Squash was very popular in those days," Perry said.

"I guess I just kept going with it from there. There's quite a few of us there now who have been playing for a long time, and we've become good friends."

Perry tasted immediate success in his first year, but he said it was the social side of things that maintained his interest.

"We won the premiership that year, in the first season I played," Perry said.

"I remember my team from that first competition. Graham Gerlach was the captain, with Adrian Vanderwaal and Max Fennell also on the team.

"I really enjoyed it. That was what got me enthused; not the winning, but the fun we had. It's a really good team game, everyone helps each other and talks to each other between the games."

Despite his 40 plus years of playing experience, Perry, 66, said he's usually the one receiving the coaching during breaks in play.

"When they're talking to me, they'll tell me to hit it closer to the walls, because all I'm normally doing is just banging it back into the centre," Perry said.

Despite not being a self-proclaimed star of the sport - "I'm nowhere near the best player" - Perry has still managed to achieve a great deal of success throughout his squash career in Horsham.

He insisted it was merely a matter of trial and error, and having great teammates.

"I've been playing since 1976, so 43 years," Perry said. "I think I've had one competition that I've missed - one year when I was too ill to compete.

"So when you play in three competitions a year for forty years, you're probably going to end up in at least a couple of good teams.

"I think I've played in about 8-10 premierships. It's played as a team sport, so you can be a weak link in the team but still get through. That's happened a lot with me."

There is one accolade however that has disappointingly alluded Perry.

"The one win I've never had, I've never won a club championship," he said.

"I've been runners-up twice. My son Mark has won it twice, and he reminds me about that all the time.

"Last year I lost the B Grade final. I played Marcus Williamson. It went to five, and he beat me 15-12 or something like that in the fifth.

"I was really disappointed because I wanted to get my name up on the board with my son."

Perry might one day get another chance, as he has no plans of slowing down on the squash court.

"There's a lot of people down there about my age that still play," Perry said. "June Liddy still plays and she's a few years older than me.

"It's like, you just keep going. There's no secret to it ... I just run around like a maniac and try to hit the ball."

Perry has however been a star contributor for the Horsham Squash Club off the court. He was on the committee from "pretty close to day one" and has remained involved for 40 years.

Perry also became a part owner of the squash courts in 2003, when five passionate players banded together to help keep the sport in Horsham.

"In 2003, Ray and Marie Walker who owned the squash courts wanted to sell, and it looked like it was going to get sold and turned into an industrial site," Perry said.

"So Mike Clark got five of us together and we bought the courts. We leased them back to the club just to keep squash going in Horsham. I suppose it was probably a pretty big decision at the time."

For his decades of involvement, Perry became a life member at the club in 2012 alongside Launa Schilling, Russell Davies, and June Liddy.

Perry said he was passionate about keeping the sport prominent.

"We just try to make it a family club, where everyone feels like they are part of the group," he said.

"It's good for the town. A lot of squash courts have gone from other towns, turned into housing units and housing developments.

"That's the whole reason Mike brought us together (in 2003). He said if we didn't do something, squash would disappear."

Perry said it had been a sport that had provided him with many valuable social connections, including one that has stuck with him into his role as president-elect at the Rotary Club.

"Graham Gerlach, who was in that original team when we won the premiership, he's the current Rotary president, and I'll be following him," Perry said.

"He was my captain at squash in 1976, and now he is my captain at the Rotary club in 2019."