Sideline Sid Sports correspondant & historian www.sunlive.co.nz

Having a beer, a bet and a yarn on a Saturday is a Kiwi tradition that dates back decades.

And one Western Bay local, where a group of hard working blokes gather, is the Judea Tavern in Koromiko Street on Judea industrial estate.

Last Saturday there were somber tones for a time, as the regulars gathered to remember an American friend, who passed away in Chicago a couple of weeks ago.

Thomas P Donahue, who was known universally to his many friends in Tauranga as Tommy, had been coming to our beautiful city for over three decades.

His New Zealand connection dates back to his time in the military, when he served as a military policeman in South Korea, during the Vietnam War.

Serving alongside a number of New Zealand military personal, Tommy was taken by their down-to-earth friendliness and tales of our beautiful country at the end of the world.

In the late 1970s, Tommy made his first journey down under and came to the Western Bay of Plenty for the first time.

From then on his annual six-week vacation was a return to his mates in Tauranga and a number of road trips around New Zealand with his new found friends.

On his retirement from an Illinois power utility a decade ago, he lived the endless summer with six months in his beloved Chicago, before returning to his Western Bay home for our summer.

Tommy was extremely proud of his country and his military service to his homeland and was always extolling the virtues of his home city.

New Zealand's Labour weekend brought talk at the Judea Tavern that Tommy would be home in a couple of weeks, while around Easter saw him depart for his USA home.

His love of a beer and a bet saw him fit into the tavern's environment like a local from his first visit.

There were no pretensions about Tommy, and what you saw was what you got. He was unashamedly a public bar patron all his life.

He loved baseball, following the Chicago White Sox with plenty of passion and the highlight of his trips down under was to watch the Super Bowl on TV each year.

On the second day of February this year, a few of us gathered with Tommy at our local to watch the New England Patriots come from behind to defeat the Seattle Seahawks.

However, it was his love affair with grey horses that endeared him to his mates at the tavern.

Tommy always had a punt whenever a grey horse started. Two summers ago he joined a syndicate formed by a number of Judea Tavern regulars to lease and race a horse.

He was also one of the first to sign up for the Tavern Social Club and his name occupies the number one position on the membership board.

Tommy embraced the Kiwi lifestyle to the fullest and will always be remembered by his Kiwi mates as a genuine good bloke.

Thomas P Donahue: Born 8-3-1945. Died 17-5-2015.

Rest in Peace Tommy.