One of Australia’s most adored sports reporters has died.
Mike “Gibbo” Gibson was found dead in his home this morning on NSW Central Coast.
After a start in print journalism as a newspaper writer and contributor to The Australian Women’s Weekly, he anchored Channel Nine’s Wide World of Sports.
He later moved to Fox Sports where he presented The Back Page.
Today sports journalists across the country have taken to social media to share their condolences.
“Iconic TV journalist Mike Gibson has passed away. A great of [sic] sports journalism. WWOS. Back Page. Vale, Mike,” Tweeted Peter Fitzimons.
“RIP Mike Gibson. A true icon of Australian sports media,” wrote Manly Sea Eagles.
Sports journalist Tony Squires who hosts The Back Page on Fox Sports said Gibbo was an inspiration.
“As a sporting journalist you couldn’t help being inspired by Gibbo,” Squires told The Weekly Online.
“He was passionate, honest and across everything. Most important… he was a good bloke. It was always the best pub conversation with Gibbo.
“He was a legend and he’ll be missed.”
During his career, Gibson was a columnist with The Australian Women’s Weekly.
Writing in The Weekly’s 70th birthday edition he shed some light on his time as a contributor.
“Oh, how I enjoyed writing that column for The Weekly. It was the diary of our family life…. Many of my stories featured our family pets.”
He recalled his favourite story about his Burmese cat, Fast Eddie.
“One evening, as we were deep in dinner conversation arguing the merits of Bob Hawke as prime minister, Eddie crept into the back of the dishwasher,
to lick the last of the ricotta sauce off the plates.
“God smiled on Eddie that night. A couple of minutes after she (Gibbo’s wife) had pressed the start button, my wife discovered a few extra plates and opened the dishwasher to stack them in.
“As I wrote at the time. ‘The child-bride’s shriek revealed the horror of what had happened as a water-logged Fast Eddie lurched out like a Friday night drunk after 15 schooner. The full cycle of our dishwasher is 70 minutes. Fast Eddie had been saved from the scalding whirlpool of his of Hell’.”
RIP. Gibbo.
