Hundreds of people have packed into a Meon Valley church to pay their final respects to an all-round titan of Hampshire sport.

Charlie Tuck has taken his love of sport to the grave as his ashes were scattered close to the grave of Thomas Lord last Friday.

It was a fitting final delivery for the 81-year cricket enthusiast and former PE teacher who tenaciously fought cancer for more than a year.

The turnout in West Meon Parish Church was a testament to the impact the proud Yorkshireman made in education and the county’s sporting scene over 50 years on and off the pitch.

Charlie was educated at Doncaster Grammar School before the hard-hitting batsman showed his prowess for rugby and cricket at Carnegie College for Sport in Leeds.

He led a sporting double life, playing cricket for the Yorkshire Academy and Doncaster Town and being Carnegie’s fleet-a-foot 1stXV flanker.

His first teaching post was at St Peter’s School in Donny with former pupil and England star Kevin Keegan namechecking Charlie in his autobiography.

He taught another footballing legend after moving to Fareham in 1968 as future Southampton striker Steve Moran – who played alongside Keegan for the Saints in the 1980s – was in his class.

Another of the school’s most prominent sportsmen, cricketer Simon Whitby, has fond memories of the “immaculately turned out” Mr Tuck.

“If you were a games-mad teenager you soon realised you’d got lucky when a young Mr Tuck arrived at Price’s Grammar School in Fareham,” said Whitby.

“He transformed so many lives and his reputation preceded him. A piece of Yorkshire grit determined to sharpen up as southern softies.”

Instilled with an ethos to compete against the best state and public schools, Charlie’s “Team Tuck” produced results and success in football, hockey, basketball and cricket. Players were selected for Hampshire Schools teams and his sides enjoyed tours of the Channel Islands and West Indies.

When not teaching, he was playing either tennis or cricket as the husband, father and grandfather was also a useful batsman and bowler for Gosport Borough and Waterlooville.

His love of cricket and his home county even led to a 270-mile detour as he was determined that his son, Richard, should be eligible to play cricket for Yorkshire. Players only born within the historic boundaries of its Ridings could wear the white rose until 1992, prompting a trip to a Harrogate maternity ward and a story that would make national papers.

Charlie started his Allez sports kit clothing business after becoming disillusioned with teaching and the introduction of sixth form colleges in the mid-1970s.

His design and attention for detail was meticulous and he smartened up the Southern League with many clubs investing in his high-quality clothing.

The Saints and Wasps fan later became a founder member of the Hampshire Cricket Society and swelled the ranks of their Dorset counterparts.

He eventually settled in West Meon with the gardener and raconteur becoming a member of the churchyard clear-up team. He had a terrific innings.