Honouring the late Gold Coast sports personalities of 2020
They were our coaches, teammates, volunteers and officials. We celebrate the life of those who left a mark on the Gold Coast sporting landscape.
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THEY were our coaches, teammates, volunteers and officials. We celebrate the life of those who left a mark on the Gold Coast sporting landscape.
Jean Littman
THE Gold Coast basketball community in January was mourning the loss of one of their most popular figures.
Jean Littman passed away earlier this week after a 15-month battle with an aggressive form of brain cancer.
Littman was a major contributor to the North Gold Coast Seahawks, filling the role of treasurer from 2011-2016 and also managing accounts as a member of staff from 2011–2017.
Alex Aurrichio
Alex Aurrichio was a New York giant whose personality exceeded his enormous stature.
The Australian rules community on the Gold Coast and around the country was left shattered when he died on June 8 after being hit by a car while riding his bike in the Northern Territory.
It prompted an outpouring of support from the community that extended to his grieving family back home in the U.S.
‘WE HAVE LOST A BROTHER’: SHARKS IN TOUCHING TRIBUTE TO ‘ROOCH’
MIDNIGHT DOOR KNOCK THAT CRUSHED AURRICHIO’S FATHER IN THE U.S.
‘ I’LL LIVE OUT HIS DREAM:’ TOUCHING AFL TRIBUTE TO LATE SHARK
ULTIMATE COMPLIMENT FOR LATE SHARK
DEBUT THAT REFLECTED GREAT CHARACTER OF AURRICHIO
CAMPAIGN TO HELP SHARKS PLAYER’S GRIEVING FAMILY
SELFLESS ACT BY SHARKS AMID NEAFL CANCELLATION
Aurrichio’s death was followed days later by the death of life member John Gonard who served as Southport’s club treasurer from 1877-84 and 1989-91.
DALLAS BAIN
The Gold Coast rugby league community was forced to rally together in January when beloved footballer Dallas Bain was hit and killed by a car.
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CHRIS CAMERON
The early stages of the year were hard for those in league on the Gold Coast who also mourned the loss of Bilambil Jets and Tweed Coast Raiders player Chris Cameron.
TRIBUTE: Beloved Coast footy player an ‘integral part of us’
The Gold Coast basketball fraternity were left shattered in January when Jean Littman died after a 15-month battle with an aggressive form of brain cancer.
The respected figure was a major contributor to the North Gold Coast Seahawks, filling the role of treasurer from 2011-2016 and also managing accounts as a member of staff from 2011–2017.
She was also heavily involved in the club’s junior Seahawks program, taking on assistant coaching roles.
JAKE RYAN
Bali bombing survivor and prominent Australian rules player Jake Ryan left a gaping hole in the hearts of thousands after being hit and killed by a train while running in Noto, Italy, in October.
It sparked an enormous outpouring of grief for one of the most influential and beloved sporting figures on the Gold Coast.
A memorial service was held at Metricon Stadium for the former Southport Sharks player, who spent time working with the Gold Coast Suns AFL Academy.
GREG MANCE
In thoroughbred racing, Greg Mance, a man described as “one of the greatest gentlemen you’d ever come across” who achieved much in life, lost his battle against ill health and died aged 74 in October.
Mance was a legend at the Gold Coast Turf Club where he won six straight premierships between 1988 and 1994.
His champion Cole Diesel served as Clerk of the Course for more than two decades after winning the 1989 Caulfield Cup.
BILLY SMITH
Still in racing where Australia’s oldest surviving Melbourne Cup winning jockey W.A. “Billy” Smith passed away on the Gold Coast just over a week after the race that etched his name into the history books.
Only days earlier the Bulletin sat down with Smith to recall his Melbourne Cup victory in 1960.
Anna Fairleigh
It took six months for the devastated family of Anna Fairleigh to get the strength to speak about the loss of their “quiet, passionate” daughter who tragically died at the age of 20 Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP).
Fairleigh was a passionate athlete and Gold Coast Titans fan who hadn’t had a seizure in more than three years before she died.
TOM SEARLE
Rugby league was rocked again in June when an icon of the sport on the Gold Coast and Tweed, Tom Searle, died in Sydney after a year-long battle with brain cancer.
Searle was one of the code’s most influential figures and a founding father of the Gold Coast Titans NRL club.
TRIBUTE: SEARLE REMEMBERED BY CLOSE FRIEND AND TWEED SEAGULLS CEO
RICHARD CURTIN
More recently the Griffith University Colleges Knights Rugby Union announced the passing of popular junior coach Richard Curtin.
Curtin was a faithful servant of local rugby with the Surfers Paradise Rugby Club before the Knights, whose under-16 team he coached to the 2018 club premiership.
ADRIAN FELICI
THE Gold Coast football and cricket community mourned the loss of one of their greats in July following the death of Adrian Felici.
The 1996 Broadbeach Cats premiership Australian rules player and cricket club member died of a heart attack at the age of 43.
MARTIN TULLEMANS
Tributes flowed for one of the world’s greatest surfing photographers, Martin Tullemans, who passed away on the Gold Coast after a long battle with ill health at the end of November.
He was lauded as one of the finest in his craft, capturing some of surfing’s most iconic images which ran in magazines worldwide.
BRADLEY WARD
A man who died in the driveway of his Gold Coast home in November after an alleged fight with a neighbour was remembered by devastated family as a “great man” with an “infectious personality”.
Bradley Ward played age group football against Origin legends such as Paul “Fatty” Vautin in a golden era of rugby league.
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