The rugby league community is mourning the loss of legendary coach Jack Gibson who passed away at 6.32pm Friday night, aged 79.
After enduring a long battle with Alzheimer's disease and dementia, Gibson - rugby league's Coach of the Century - was in the company of his family at the Garawarra Centre in Sydney's south.
His wife Judy issued the following statement.
"We greatly appreciate the wonderful care he had received at Garrawarra, and also the caring and kind support afforded to us, the family."
"We are dealing as well as we can and would ask that Jack’s many friends in their sadness that he is no longer with us, do not feel too sorry."
"Jack would not want that; it was his own strong belief and appreciation that he had had a very fortunate life, and we know he would have wanted that to be the spirit of this time."
Gibson was regarded as a coaching 'guru', having steered teams to five Premierships - a coaching record which stood until Brisbane coach Wayne Bennett - a great admirer of Gibson - surpassed Gibson's record after the Bronco's 15-8 win over Melbourne Storm in the 2006 NRL Grand Final.
Gibson played 162 first grade games with Eastern Suburbs from 1953-1961, Newtown in 1962 and Western Suburbs before retiring in 1964.
He embarked on his distinguished coaching career with the Roosters in 1967 for the first of two spells, before stints with to St George, Newtown, South Sydney, Parramatta and finally Cronulla before retiring in 1990 with five premierships.
In 1988 Gibson was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia "for service to rugby league as a coach".
He retired from coaching in 1990 before being awarded the Australian Sports Medal in 2000.
On 17 April 2008, Gibson was selected as Coach of Australian rugby league's Team of the Century.
As expected, the passing of the legendary rugby league 'super-coach' has evoked tributes from all levels of the code.
"There is no superlative that does justice to his contribution to the game,” Australian Rugby League Chairman Mr Colin Love AM said today.
"We pass on our deepest sympathies to the Judy and to the Gibson family."
NRL Chief Executive, Mr David Gallop, said that every player and every coach in the game was a beneficiary of his career.
"Jack’s philosophy was to build the club from the front office to the playing field and to develop men not just footballers."
"He wrote the book for the modern coach and he will be both celebrated and missed."
Radio broadcaster and rugby league commentator Ray Hadley was on-air when he heard of Gibson's passing.
"It's not fitting when anyone dies, but on one of the most important nights on the rugby league calendar, we acknowledge the great contribution the coach of the century Jack Gibson made to the wonderful game of rugby league," said Hadley.
Eels great Peter Sterling, who played halfback for Gibson in Parramatta's hat-trick of premierships, said tonight he had been "absolutely shattered" by news of his former coach's death.
"I played under Jack Gibson for a number of years, won three premierships and I'm absolutely shattered," said the Network Nine commentator.
"I guess we knew this night was coming ... but it's very hard to digest.
"Jack, he loved his players, he cared about his players. And I think the great thing about being coached by Jack Gibson ... is he was more concerned about you off the field than he ever was on (the field).
"He made wonderful footballers, but he also made wonderful people and I thank Jack Gibson eternally for being a part of my life and I know I speak on behalf of every rugby league player and every rugby league supporter who was lucky enough to see Jack in action."
Apart from his premiership-winning ability, Gibson was also famous for his charity work, the coaching techniques he sourced from professional American football clubs and his one-liners as a commentator.
Among his most famous are:
- "Played strong, done good."
- "Waiting for Cronulla to win a premiership is like putting a porch lamp on for Harold Holt." (Referring to the Cronulla Sharks' long premiership drought).
- "That guy is so quick, he can switch off the light and get into bed before the room is dark". (Gibson's assessment of Cronulla speedster Andrew Ettingshausen).
-"Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead!" (Gibson quotes the title of the song from The Wizard of Oz at the start of his post-game speech to fans after his Parramatta Eels side win the club their first-ever Australian Rugby League premiership title in 1981 after thirty four years in the competition. Gibson then promptly ended the speech and went back to his celebrating players.)
