Mike Willesee had as much passion for sport as he did for television

Mike Willesee died of throat cancer, aged 76, on the first day of autumn.

Tributes have been flowing ever since, saluting five decades of trail-blazing interviews.

But little has been said of the major role Mike played with the Sydney Swans, as a breeder, owner and punter in the Sport of Kings, and as a publican where sport and politics that governed Mike’s life were the top topics of conversation.

I first crossed paths with Mike when he switched to Seven in the mid-70s to host “This Is Your Life”.

I’d done the research and written the script for Richie Benaud, with the trap at Seven on a Friday night when Richie was unavailable to be live on my cricket segment the following Sunday morning on the Rex Mossop “Sports Action” program.

The interview had just started when Mike came round the corner of the set and said – “As you know David, this is not for Sunday, Richie Benaud, this is your life”.

The party that followed the taping that night was a party to end all parties, and the first of many times to talk sport with the man who was to become a television legend.

But having a drink with Mike was never a social occasion, his life was consumed with asking questions, and if he didn’t get the answers he wanted, he asked more questions.

Television viewers will remember him as a fearless, often brutal, interviewer.

He was never fearless or brutal having a chat over a beer, but he was always in control of the conversation.

As I was the first Australian to manage sportsmen with Jeff Thomson, Vivian Richards, Alvin Kallicharran and swimmmer Steve Holland, one of Mike’s questions was to suggest I do the same with AFL footballers, which I dismissed with AFL not one of my fortes, nor was I interested in the sport, at the time.

Mike was taken aback, especially as he had been a reserve grader with South Melbourne and VFL, as it was then, was his major sport.

And it was, in fact, that association saved the Sydney Swans from extinction in 1988.

South Melbourne moved to Sydney as the Swans in 1982, but the new club did it tough in a city that had long been rugby league, and rugby, oriented.

With VFL Commissioner Ross Oakley poised to send the Swans packing from the competition, Mike put together a syndicate of John Gerahty, Basil Sellers, Craig Kimberley and Peter Weinert to financially save the Swans.

Mike went on to become the Swans’ president, then patron, and life member, with the Swans now well-entrenched in the AFL, and for the most part thriving thanks to Mike’s organisational and true believer instincts.

He was the same with the thoroughbreds.

Mike purchased Twin Hills, outside of Cootmundra, from Ferd Calvin, to rename the 1016 hectare property Transmedia Park Stud where champions like Rubiton, Snippets, Sovereign Red, Joindre, Savage Toss and Bravery stood.

He also brought into stallion Sir Dapper, the first Golden Slipper winner to crack the 70-second barrier in 1983, and Let’s Get Physical, winner of the Blue Diamond in 1985.

The publican side of Mike was the Town Hall at Balmain, and the Union at the top of the Pacific Highway hill above North Sydney, heading north towards Crows Nest.

So I’ve been privileged to know the other side of Mike Willesee, and I’ll miss his questions, but never forget a damn good bloke.