It was fitting that his funeral was held at Carisbrook and a hole dug in the ground for his ashes.
"They were just put in a hole and we could never find them now," son Bill Saxton said. "We thought that was a fitting place and the ORFU was pleased that we did it. We had a short family ceremony and that is where he is."
Bill related a story about his father's generosity to a small boy at Carisbrook one day during a club game.
"Dad came across a young boy aged 6 who was standing outside Don Denis' food stall, eyeing the pies.
"Dad bought him an ice cream and also bought one for his father, who had brought him to the ground. Dad told the boy to make sure he gave it to his father.
"But his Dad was playing hooker in a club team and the boy had a hell of a job trying to get on to the ground to give it to him."
Bill Saxton (69) was first taken to Carisbrook at the age of 4 to watch the famous Kiwis team play Otago in 1946.
"Carisbrook was Dad's second home," Bill said. "He coached Pirates and that was their home ground. He also played cricket for Otago at the ground."
Saxton was an Otago selector and assistant coach to Vic Cavanagh in the great Otago Ranfurly Shield era from 1947-50.
He was sole coach of the Otago team when Cavanagh retired at the end of the 1949 season until 1957.
Saxton coached the Pirates club to three banners - in 1948, 1950 and 1952 - and was coach of Otago when the Ranfurly Shield was won and lost in 1957.
For a test match or an Otago game, Saxton would always go to Carisbrook on Saturday morning to check the place out and make sure the sawdust was on the floor.
"He was very methodical and meticulous in getting things organised. He just loved the place," Bill said.
Saxton was a long-serving chairman of the Otago Rugby Football Union and also made a big contribution to New Zealand rugby.
"When Dad was chairman of the ORFU, he didn't bring his work home, and rarely mentioned issues from the rugby union," Bill said.
But one issue he did discuss with the family was when he heard the Otago Presbyterian Church was short of money and wanted to sell Carisbrook.
"Dad was chairman of the ORFU when we purchased Carisbrook for 60,000," Bill said. "It was the only privately owned sports ground in New Zealand."
In those days, the Carisbrook gates opened at 8am for test matches.
"When I went with Dad we just marched in," Bill said. "We would go home for lunch and come back for the game in the afternoon."
Charlie Saxton
Otago rugby legend
Born: May 23, 1913.
Died: July 4, 2001.
Rugby career
• Eight games for Otago 1935-36.
• Seven matches (three tests) for All Blacks 1938.
• Captained the post-war Kiwis touring rugby team.
• Otago coach (1950-57) and selector (1948-57).
• Manager All Black tour UK and France 1967.
• NZRFU council 1957-71.
• President NZRFU 1974.
