After being recruited from the Pastimes Football Club in Bunbury, Keith Hough made his league debut with Claremont-Cottesloe in 1928. His impact was pronounced, as he won the club’s fairest and best award in his debut season. Two years later he finished second in the Sandover Medal count to West Perth’s Ted Flemming. An energetic, rebounding half back flanker, he was one of the few shining lights in a team of persistent under-achievers that finished bottom or second from bottom every season during his career except the last.
The season of the sudden and spectacular improvement was 1936 when inspired coaching from Dick Lawn guided the club to a losing grand final against East Perth. Keith Hough was on a wing that day, making the last of his 120 senior appearances for the club.
Many of the best of those performances came in a 1932 season that saw Hough earmarked as the best footballer in the state courtesy of a resounding Sandover Medal win which saw him procure a record 32 votes. For good measure, he also won a second club fairest and best award. A Western Australian state representative eight times, Hough was once described in ‘The West Australian’ as “a player who never gives up. His dogged persistence and fleetness of foot, sure hands and masterly disposal have made him one of the state’s foremost players”.
