Universal Love RIP Russell Ebert. The greatest man!

[Magpiespowaz]

The olds bought my first cricket bat from Ebert & Weston - a classic Greg Chappell Grey Nicolls scoop. They even got to briefly meet the great man. So pissed off they didn't take me in - always wanted to go there and catch a glimpse of greatness.

"Why didn't you take me?"
"Yerra, it wouldn't be a feckin surprise then now would it, you half-baked oonchuck!"
"You met Russell Ebert! Jam your surprise! And your dumb bat!"

My simmering rage erupted two years later on Saturday, September 7, 1985.

The day of Russell Ebert's last game against Norwood at Footy Park. I had the flu and Mum had ruled me out. But I begged and cajoled and pleaded all morning long, rugged myself up in Magpies guernsey, beanie and scarf and, of course, a big duffel coat. Dad lobbied for me. Mum wavered. At one point, it looked like she was gonna break. But, in the end, she held firm.

"Look here boyo, ye didn't go to school on Tursday or Friday so ye didn't - so you're not going to the football today, bloody sure you're not."

CUE BIGGEST TANTRUM EVER. No, s**t I went absolutely ballistic farken. Even rescinded my court authorised adoption. Minor caveat: got me the whole next week of school off. Mum felt so bad, she let me milk that flu for all it was worth. By Thursday, she had suspicions I was right as rain, tho:

"Do ye tink you're well enough to go to school."
"Russell *cough* Ebert *cough* ."

Then I handed her my empty bowl of Rice Bubble with warm milk and a mountain of sugar and kept watching The Smurfs.

Footy stars being partners in sports stores was definitely a thing in Adelaide back in the day - Ebert & Weston and Hughes & Loveday were the ones I remember. So many footballers were involved, tho. Hell, even Rick Kinnear had one, lol...


CLIPPINGS courtesy Mark Schwerdt @ Footy Almanac

 

[1954]

It's always interesting how something you have forgotten about for years can suddenly come back into your mind, and just last night I recalled one special piece of Ebert magic from his very early day at Alberton.

It was either 1969 or 70 well before any 50 metre lines on the oval to give a player an indication of how far from goal he was, and on one of those typical windswept and absolutely shizenhauser days at Elizabeth oval.
Scoring was extremely difficult at both ends, and Centrals were on top fairly late in the last qtr and looking set for what would have been their first victory over the Maggies.

I was behind and just to the right of the southern goal when Russell, who was playing as a ruck rover (onballer) came off half back and through the centre with a couple of bounces and then let go with this enormous raking drop kick which cleared the pack, landed just outside the goal square and then bounced through to put the Maggies in front for the first time in the qtr, and with not a lot of time left on the clock.

That kick which was the last score of the game would have been sensational on a perfect day, but given the conditions and the current state of that game it was beyond sensational.

 

[Interstater]

From the 1976 Grand Final Football Budget.

SANFL 1976 Grand Final – Port Adelaide v Sturt: Around The Ground (footyalmanac.com.au)

 

[70sDinosaur]

Footy stars being partners in sports stores was definitely a thing in Adelaide back in the day - Ebert & Weston and Hughes & Loveday were the ones I remember. So many footballers were involved, tho. Hell, even Rick Kinnear had one, lol...

Yes, and I remember Carl Fragomeni worked at Quinns sports store in the Port. He sold me one of those Gray Nicholls cricket bats.

 

[OneGreatClub]

 

[Papa G]

Yes, and I remember Carl Fragomeni worked at Quinns sports store in the Port. He sold me one of those Gray Nicholls cricket bats.

Yeah was just going to mention Carl. Remember getting a pair of 2 sizes to big Adidas lime green stripes there. Georgie Fiacchi had a shop im West Lakes mall for years.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

I PMSL reading this last night in Rooch's tribute article for Indaily. Typical Russell. The image in my head .......


(Bill) Sanders remembers the strength – and determination – Ebert possessed by recalling a post-match Saturday night when he hosted a social gathering at his Woodville South home.

“It was late and we had had a few when I made mention of the danger a ghost gum in the backyard posed to our house and the neighbours,” Sanders said. “We had a ridiculous quote to clear it away, but Russell said, ‘I’ll fix that’.

“The next morning, I am still in bed when I hear a chain saw roaring at 7. Outside, Russell was up the tree, Rambo style with biceps bulging, cutting away this tree. He stopped after a while, went to take training at Woodville Oval and was back at noon to finish the job.”

 

[edgie]

Ebert and Robran are always spoken about in the same breath, but there seems to be a consensus amongst most that Robran was just a bit better, having never seen either play properly, I just wonder why this is, the stats don't favour that being the majority opinion.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Ebert and Robran are always spoken about in the same breath, but there seems to be a consensus amongst most that Robran was just a bit better, having never seen either play properly, I just wonder why this is, the stats don't favour that being the majority opinion.

Because he won 3 Magarey medals by the time he was 26 (was 2 years older than Russell and Russell had won 1) and did his ACL in a state game in May 1974, when knee reco surgery was very new and was hit or miss, and was leading the voting in 1974 the year Russell won his second. Plus he played CHF, the toughest position on the ground. Your peak years are 26-30, Robran turned 26 in late September 1973, rarely played any games the next 3 or 4 seasons and when he did it was with a big steel brace.

 

[gtrxuone]

Just reading all the posts about Russell. It does appear that Russell's off field contribution to Port Adelaide.Was as large as his onfield contribution to Port.
Was Russell the glue that made Port Power and Port Magpies one club.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Just reading all the posts about Russell. It does appear that Russell's off field contribution to Port Adelaide.Was as large as his onfield contribution to Port.
Was Russell the glue that made Port Power and Port Magpies one club.

Nah, it was the supporters and ex players and administrators who refused to believe they were different clubs and accepting the politburo at West Lakes splitting the club in two.

 

[John Who]

I’ve never met Russell in person, but he has my utmost respect from what I see of him on TV and hear of him on radio. There is no better footy ambassador than him. Both as a player and as a person off-field. Thank you Russell!

 

[bomberclifford]

I PMSL reading this last night in Rooch's tribute article for Indaily. Typical Russell. The image in my head .......


(Bill) Sanders remembers the strength – and determination – Ebert possessed by recalling a post-match Saturday night when he hosted a social gathering at his Woodville South home.

“It was late and we had had a few when I made mention of the danger a ghost gum in the backyard posed to our house and the neighbours,” Sanders said. “We had a ridiculous quote to clear it away, but Russell said, ‘I’ll fix that’.

“The next morning, I am still in bed when I hear a chain saw roaring at 7. Outside, Russell was up the tree, Rambo style with biceps bulging, cutting away this tree. He stopped after a while, went to take training at Woodville Oval and was back at noon to finish the job.”

If this story was about anyone else, you'd suspect some artistic embellishment, but it just rings so true about Russell.

 

[CreightonS]

Like all of our Port Adelaide family I have been quite upset by Russell's passing and still get misty eyed when something comes up on TV about him and his magnificent career as a Port Adelaide Magpies player so today, to honour the great man, I've changed my BF avatar to one of our early 1970s Maggies cheer squad banners that I was in charge of creating - also, I scoured through all my old photos and newspaper cuttings to find this memorable cartoon that was on the front page of the Sunday Mail after we won our first GF in 12 years in 1977 - a nice follow on from that famous image of Ebo holding up the premiership cup surrounded by Port supporters on Football Park the day before.

 

[Angus Young]

Champion player and bloke.

RIP

 

[Clawed]

My enduring memory is when he was replaced as coach of port Adelaide, the amount of people that turned up to support him. A community was in mourning. He was the people's champion.

 

[Corby_says]

We knew it was going to happen soon, but it's still very sad news to hear. RIP Russell!!!

Yet Trump lives on.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

A nice article written by someone who lives on the farm next door where Russell grew up in Alawoona.

VALE RUSSELL EBERT 1949-2021

Russell Ebert is a legend in an era when the term is thrown around way too loosely. Four time Magarey Medalist, 3 premierships, six Best and Fairest's.

www.linkedin.com

 

[Portology]

Yet Trump lives on.

Well so does Keith Richards.

 

[VineValerian]

Isn't it funny how life's little ironies often resolve unexpectedly?

In 1972 (I thin), our family came down from the Barossa to attend the show, which we did most years. It was midweek, because back then, they had a day where if you got there before 10am you got half price entry Dad actually got a work ticket that gave him free entry, so after the boss and his family had used it, Dad got to use it, and did so on the half price day, if my memory serves me correctly. My younger brother may have got in free too back then as he was quite a bit younger, so a family of 4 we got in for the price of one adult and one older child (both half price)!

The Savings Bank of SA back then had a booth just outside the showground arena. In those days, Russell, Malcolm Blight, Fritzy Freeman and one or two others worked for the SBSA.

My Mum and brother went off somewhere to see the sideshows, while Dad and I went our own way towards the woodchopping arena. Walking along, and Dad suddenly taps me on the shoulder and says "Look. Ebert and Blight standing there". Yep. The two legends, side by side having a break from attending the Show branch. They were clearly having a morning smoko break. Blighty smoked back then, and had lit up a gasper. Russell just standing next to him.

Anyway, Dad goes up and starts talking to them. Blight looked disinterested (I thought at the time he was a surly p***k. Years later, I assumed he may have just been struggling with all the adulation and pestering that came with being the newly crowned Magarey Medallist). Funnily enough, I was listening to a bit of 5AA yesterday morning, and they spoke to Blighty. He recounted that very day.

Turns out, everybody at the Show who went to the SBSA booth, wanted to speak to Russell and get his autograph, and not just the kids either! Nobody cared two hoots about Blighty, so after signing a few dozen autographs, Russ went up and dragged Blighty from behind the counter and paraded him in front of the people inside the office and told them he was the current MM, and they should get his autograph as well. And so M Blight, laughing as he recounted the story yesterday, said he eventually got known and lauded because of Russell. How typical of the great man.

But back to the story, and Russell was smiling and chatting to Dad all this time, giving freely of his rest time talking to someone he never even knew, who pointed me out from 5 metres or so away. At the time I was a nervous, insecure 15 year old teenager who worshipped the ground Russ walked on. If I saw him walking towards me I would move out of the way, bow politely and proceed to toss rose petals on the ground for him to walk on, such was my hero worship.

Of course, I stood where I was, too afraid to approach them. I think Dad joked I was going to be a centre half forward for Port one day. So Russell called out to me - he didn't need to, didn't know me from a bar of soap, but did anyway - and wished me good luck with my future ambitions, then told me to make sure I practiced kicking with both feet! Sound advice from the Champ, and one I took heed of.

I of course was dumbstruck, and barely said a word the whole time. Was "walking on a cloud" for the rest of the day though

So, that was my one encounter with Russ (until about two years ago, when I was introduced to, and had a brief conversation with him, and shared a joke). Told the woman who brought him across to talk to me that I had "shaken the hand of God"! Walking on a cloud for the second time.

So, on such a sad day yesterday, and nearly half a century later, the loose ends of my (miniscule and all too and brief) encounter with a Legend of a guy somehow all get tied together in a neat little bow.

How about that? Life can be breathtakingly astonishing at times.

Yeah, it's nothing much to write home about, nor which probably anyone else gives a toss about to be frank, but it meant the world to me, such was the impact a brief encounter with one damned magnificent human being had on my life. I'm sure others out there would have far more impressive stories to relate. And they should be told, every single one of them, too magnify just how much influence, impact and power the simple act of caring about others can have on so many people.



Footnote: Yes (in case you can remember), as a kid, I did have one of those little Humphrey B Bear moneyboxes, that we placed any loose coins we were given (or earned by doing small jobs around the home), and brought them to our local primary school once a week, where the SBSA teller from the nearest town would take our boxes, count the money, and update our passbooks to reflect how much was in our bank accounts

 

[VineValerian]

Well so does Keith Richards.

But is he really alive?
Or just a cardboard cutout, preserved in alcohol and drugs!

 

[CreightonS]

Whose' watching the half hour special on Russell Ebert on channel 7 right now before their 6pm news? It's already got the better of me twice with tears freely flowing.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Tim Ginever was asked to sum up Russell by Aber in a word or two. He paused - Champion pause Unselfish.

 

[RossFC]

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

It was great to hear Dennis Commeti and Ross Glendining talk about Russell and how they were struck by his ability to get his hands free, absorb a tackle, hold it above his head and do a handball to his teammates. It wasn't just this 10-11 year old kid who was awestruck by his ability, but grown men who had played league footy in one or more of the big state leagues.