Tributes Pour In For Lou Richards, Ex-Australian Football Player And Commentator Dead At 94

Lou Richards, an Australian sports legend who played for Collingwood Football Club, died at his nursing home in a Melbourne suburb Monday at the age of 94.

Richards, who also served as a commentator for the Australian Football League (AFL), played 250 games as a rover for the Collingwood Magpies from 1941-1955 and led the team to the 1953 premiership as captain, a role he served with the club for four years.

Tributes for late Australian Football legend Lou Richards, Dead at 94

The Melbourne native also scored 423 goals to become Collingwood’s — a suburb of Melbourne – leading goal-kicker twice, represented the state of Victoria three times, and was inducted into both the Collingwood Hall of Fame and the AFL Hall of Fame in 1996, but never officially received Legend status.

Richards was the nephew of another former Magpies great, Alby Pannam, and the grandson of a third Collingwood legend, Charles. Both Pannam and Charles Richard were captains of the club. Following his retirement in 1955, Richards began a very successful career in media that includes stints in television, radio and print.

He spent most of his TV broadcasting carer with Channel Seven, working on programs such as League Teams and World of Sport as well as a game-day announcer. Richards also worked at the Melbourne, Victoria-based Herald Sun.

Richards also finished second in voting for Collingwood’s best and fairest award in 1947 and 1950.

Scores of notable figures from the AFL and beyond paid homage to the legend in official statements or on social media.

Collingwood president Eddie McGuire called it a “terribly sad day for the club, the AFL and everyone who loves football” and praised Richards as an amazing man who lived an incredible life.

“He held his own with [American comedian] George Burns and [boxer] Muhammad Ali, he held his own as a performer and as an entertainer on a world level,” said McGuire. “And he held his own on the toughest battlefields of football as a footballer. He was just an amazing man who had so much talent.

“You name it, Lou did it and did it with panache.”

McGuire continued speaking about how much praise Richards deserved.

“We’ve got a statue for him at Collingwood, Channel Seven and Channel Nine should have one, the Herald Sun should have one and the AFL should put one right out the front of AFL House and the players association should bow to it every day,’’ the team’s president added.

AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan also sad in a statement that contemporary Australian football owed a massive debt to Richards.

“The AFL, our players and our clubs all benefit from the massive interest in our game around the country that is driven by media companies, and their desire to report every happening to our fans, along with trying to entertain them at the same time,” said McLachlan.

“Lou Richards was the original driving force of the media’s expanding interest in our game, particularly with the emergence of television from the late 1950s, and his time as host and match-caller for the Seven Network developed a style that has often been copied but never bettered.”

Channel 7 Melbourne managing director Lewis Martin called Richards a “television pioneer.”

”His legacy can be seen today in sports entertainment television,” Martin said.

Channel 7 producer Gordon Bennett, who worked with Richards on League Teams and World of Sport, also credited the legendary former Magpies star, along with former Sydney-based TV presenter and sports radio host Ron Casey, for attracting a large football fan-base to the channel and helping to grow the game’s popularity.

“It was Lou and Ron Casey that pushed Seven’s football to the forefront and made it so popular,” Bennett explained. “The fans all loved Lou. He was their hero. Even though he was a Collingwood player, people from all teams loved chatting to him.”

Here are the dozens of other tributes, many of them from journalists who worked at the legendary player’s previous employers, to Richards in the hours following his death:

Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews also honored Richards on Twitter:

Matthew Guy, a member of parliament and leader of the Opposition Victorian Liberal Party, also expressed his sadness upon hearing the news.

Richards was born Lewis Thomas Charles Richards on March 11, 1923 and was raised in Collingwood, a working-class town. He began playing for the Magpies at the age of 18. The 1953 premiership Collingwood won ended a 17-year title drought for the team.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – SEPTEMBER 27: Lou Richards acknowledges the crowd during the Retiring Players Motorcade before the start of the 2014 AFL Grand Final match between the Sydney Swans and the Hawthorn Hawks at Melbourne Cricket Ground on September 27, 2014 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

Article by Pablo Mena