It was the same smile that he wore when he finally lost his year-long battle with cancer yesterday morning, according to his elder son, Desmond.

He had been resting at home because of his deteriorating health, but perservered until two weekends ago with sending in his weekly Sports Editor's column for The Sunday Times.

It was a column which he took pride in. And it attracted a large readership among the sports fraternity, even if they did not always agree with his views.

While many were criticising the Foreign Talent Scheme, for instance, he supported it. He argued that, without the scheme to bring in players like badminton star Ronald Susilo, the home-grown Kendrick Lee would not have been spurred on to reach the quarter-finals of the Aviva Singapore Open.

To Low Teo Ping, president of SingaporeSailing and the Singapore Rugby Union, and vice-president of the Singapore National Olympic Council, Cheng Khoon represented the conscience of sport.

'This was definitely found in his Sunday columns,'' recalled Low yesterday.

'He always told me, 'You've got to have results', and that definitely spurred me.

'That advice has contributed to sailing's success at last year's Asian Games and the 2005 SEA Games.'

One of those who did not always agree with Cheng Khoon was Teo Ser Luck, the Parliamentary Secretary (Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports).

They did not see eye-to-eye on triathlon, Mr Teo's great passion.

'He was very passionate about sport, although he didn't consider triathlon a sport,' said Mr Teo. 'I myself never really paid attention to golf, but his interest in the sport rubbed off on me.

'I must say he had a heart for the fraternity. He wanted Singapore sport to do well. For that, I respect him and was a follower of his Sunday column.'

Within hours of his passing at 5.25am, phone calls, e-mail and SMSes came flooding in. All had been touched by him, one way or the other.

Cheng Khoon also had a playful side, later tempered by age and responsibility.

Eng, owner of the famous wanton mee stall at Dunman Road Hawker Centre, recalls a mischievous teenager who used to nick and hide his noodle bowls.

Still, Eng remembers him with fondness, and anyone who went to the stall with the password 'I'm Cheng Khoon's friend' would get preferential treatment.

From cheeky teenager, Cheng Khoon became a teacher at his alma mater, St Patrick's School, in 1968.

His old classmate Gerry de Silva, recalls the lifts he received from Cheng Khoon when they were both trainee teachers.

'I can't recall the make of the car but I remember vividly that it was a third- or fourth-hand one,' recalls de Silva, now head of corporate affairs at Hong Leong Group.

'It didn't have brakes or windscreen wipers.'

Cheng Khoon progressed to a second-hand car when he became a sports journalist in 1980.

His Sports Editor at the afternoon daily New Nation, Jeffrey Low, recalled that he was a natural sportsman.

'He could play anything - tennis, badminton, football, hockey, cricket and, later in life, squash and golf,' said Jeffrey Low.

'So he became a teacher and played everything again as a sportsmaster. Always hungry for sports.

'One day, he rang me up and asked if he could try his hand at sports writing. Naturally, the answer was yes. And the rest is history.'

He was not too bad as a teacher too. One of his students, Patrick Daniel, is now the editor-in-chief of the English and Malay Newspapers Division at Singapore Press Holdings.

'Cheng Khoon was my history teacher when I was in Secondary 2 at St Pat's,' said Daniel yesterday.

'He left teaching to become a journalist and excelled on The Straits Times Sports Desk. He was especially good at nurturing young talent. We shall all miss him dearly.'

Indeed. Even after leaving St Patrick's, Cheng Khoon coached their badminton team for a while.

He also indulged in his favourite pastime: mahjong, playing for sweets and chocolates with some of the Christian Brothers there.

At work, Cheng Khoon took naturally to nurturing younger reporters who joined the Sports Desk, introducing them to his numerous contacts, guiding them through their stories.

His 'post mortem' sessions were legendary for his sharp-tongued critiques of stories in the paper, all in the name of letting younger colleagues know what was needed on the job.

He gave up mahjong to concentrate on work when he stepped up from Deputy Sports Editor to Sports Editor in 2005.

He had an encyclopaedic knowledge, on sport and much more, which he often used to win wagers, much to the bemusement of the losers.

Some who lost bets on the laws of football - not knowing he was a qualified referee - swore that he had written those laws.

As far as I know, Cheng Khoon never lost a wager - or an argument.

It was sometime last year that there were signs that he was unwell. But Cheng Khoon soldiered on, even as his neck cancer worsened.

He had become devout in his Christian faith, and when asked about his health, he would say he was doing fine because God was looking after him.

Yesterday, I lost a longtime colleague and friend.

And I finally found out how he got his nickname.

'He was given the nickname Cheese because he was always smiling,' revealed Jeffrey Low.

And that is how many of us will remember him: With that smile.

Farewell from all of us and God bless you, Cheese.

The wake will be held at the open space near 5 Kew Avenue, which is off Bedok Road. The funeral is on Sunday.