Vale Bill Hilliard: Balmain Tigers, South Sydney Rabbitohs and Homebush Boys High School lead tributes

Tributes are flowing for a former first grade rugby league player and beloved teacher after his sudden passing from a suspected heart attack.

Former Balmain Tigers prop and reserve-grade premiership-winning captain Bill Hilliard passed away over the weekend from a suspected heart attack at the age of 69.

The former Tiger, Magpie and Rabbitoh has been remembered as a model clubman in league circles, while the school community from his career as a teacher has paid tribute to an inspiring mentor.

“Bill was just a delightful guy, a really genuine man,” Rick Wayde, director of Wests Ashfield, said.

“He didn’t just join in with all club-related events, he was often the instigator of them.”

Mr Wayde was Wests Magpies’ club secretary in the 1983 season, Mr Hilliard’s last before retiring.

Mr Hilliard made his first grade debut for the Rabbitohs, debuting in the 1977 season against the Balmain Tigers. He is Rabbitoh #629.

He played five first-grade and 12 reserve-grade games for the Rabbitohs in 1977 before moving west, where he captained Balmain to two reserve grade premiership victories in 1978 and 1982.

In 1983 he played his final season with Wests Magpies, where he also captained their first grade side in two games that year. After retiring at the conclusion of the ‘83 season, he coached the Balmain third-grade team from 1984-87.

Bill played for the Magpies in his final season before retirement, in 1983. Picture: Supplied

While a terrific player in his own right, what he lacked in physical size he made up for with toughness, leadership and commitment.

“He wasn’t necessarily the biggest front rower, but he was certainly one of the toughest,” Mr Wayde said.

“He had this aura about him.”

In a statement, Western Suburbs Magpies said “Bill was a no compromise front row forward who didn’t take a backward step”.

The Balmain Tigers expressed their sadness and said Mr Hilliard was “a strong, scrummaging front-rower and fantastic clubman” and the South Sydney Rabbitohs said the club was in mourning.

“On behalf of everyone connected to the Rabbitohs, we offer our deepest and most sincere condolences to the family and friends of Bill Hilliard,” a club statement said.

Mr Hilliard then swapped the footy field for the classroom, and continued to inspire.

“He had a warmth and a credibility about him that made everyone want to be involved with whatever he was doing,” Mr Wayde said.

Mr Hilliard taught at Balmain High School in the 1970s, during his playing days, before teaching at Ashfield Boys High School and Homebush Boys High School – the latter of which he was deputy principal at between 1996 and 2011.

He was working part-time at Ryde Secondary College just before his passing.

“He never said no to anybody – he was a doer and you’d never hear him complain,” Chabes Elaro, deputy principal at Homebush Boys and a former colleague of Mr Hilliard, said.

“He made sure our boys took pride in being ‘Bushy Boys’ – no one ever had a bad word to say about him.”

The school’s principal, Kevin Elgood, said his wife was a colleague of Mr Hilliard’s at Homebush when he was at a different school. One day when he went to meet his wife, he bumped into Mr Hilliard and told him he was looking to apply for a deputy principal position.

“Bill said to come and have a chat with him, and he took me into his office for about an hour and a half,” Mr Elgood said.

“He talked to me about the things I should be thinking about when applying to be a deputy, he even gave me a copy of his own CV to get an idea for how to approach it.

“He was always willing to go above and beyond to help anyone who needed it.”

Mr Elgood said he received a message from the principal of Homebush Boys High while Mr Hilliard was deputy.

“He said Bill was the firmest, but warmest, most professional, supportive and human person that he ever knew,” Mr Elgood said.

Mr Hilliard’s former students remember him as an inspiring mentor that took the time to help each one of his pupils.

Garry Leo, former Tiger, and Bill Hilliard (right) at a reunion. Picture: Supplied

“Bill was very committed to teaching us to become the best men we could be, whether it be representing the school or in our own personal endeavours,” Daniel Lantos, a former student of Mr Hilliard at Homebush, said.

“He was the most understanding and genuine bloke I had met, and this made me want to strive to be the same.”

Susan Aitchson was taught by Mr Hilliard at Balmain High during his playing days.

“He would occasionally turn up on a Monday with a black eye from playing rugby league over the weekend, and took quite a bit of good-natured ribbing from the students,” she said.

“He taught generations of local kids, fathers and daughters, mothers and sons, and he was always a Tiger through and through.”

One former Balmain High student cited Mr Hilliard as one of the factors behind him graduating.

“He was the main reason that I chose to go on to complete year 12, and I still have the award for dux in his economics class that I received from him,” Nathan Olsen said.

“As a teacher and footy coach he was first class, but the area where he shone even brighter was as a mentor and role model to those who were lucky enough to cross his path.”

The Inner West Courier expresses its deepest condolences to the family of Bill Hilliard, and those friends and colleagues that knew him.