Deep South Archery Club founder Ardy Ayto was presented with the honour recently.
Mr Ayto said he had stepped down as president of the club and Jason Dickson, who took over the role, had organised the life membership.
While in the back of his mind, he was aware the club did not have any life members, he was not expecting to be the first one, he said.
"It was a really nice tribute.
"It was quite a nice feeling, yes."
The strength of the club was the willingness of its members to help out, he said.
"I'm just one of the many club members that work hard to make the club succeed."
Archery was one of the few sports he could take part in as he was born with muscular dystrophy.
His first attempt at the sport had been on a Sunday and the next day he sold his camera and bought a bow and arrows.
"Archery was the thing I took up and fell in love with it."
He joined his first club in 1989 and had benefitted greatly from his time in the sport.
"Archery's been my crutch for surviving that muscular dystrophy.
He started the club so anyone could take part in archery no matter what challenges they faced.
"I'm a disabled archer, and I felt that I wanted to be able to offer everybody the opportunity to shoot bows and arrows."
He believed that if people were included in a club because they were in a wheelchair or some other challenge it was still a form of exclusion.
"You're still excluding them, because they're still being made to realise that they're different."
One of the roles he still served in was head coach.
When he was coaching he adapted what he taught to fit the needs of the person.
"My job has been to find a way to coach people to become better archers.
"I've always believed that archery should be for all abilities."
He was very pleased with the progress the club had made.
"When I started, we didn't have anything more than enthusiasm."
Thirteen years down the track "we've got [an] outdoor range, indoor range, coaches, equipment, real community."
