‘Supercoach’ Pat O’Keeffe dies in accident at Gold Coast home

FORMER elite ironman supercoach turned convicted conman Pat O’Keeffe has died suddenly at his Gold Coast home while awaiting trial on boiler room fraud charges.

Former top ironman coach Pat O'Keeffe has died suddenly in his Gold Coast home.

FORMER elite ironman supercoach turned convicted conman Pat O’Keeffe has died suddenly at his Gold Coast home while awaiting trial on boiler room fraud charges.

Lauded as a ‘legendary coach’ who trained some of our biggest sports stars, O’Keeffe, 65, was found dead inside his Arundel home by his flatmate early yesterday morning following an apparent accident.

Close family friend Scott Johnson said they believed O’Keeffe had ‘faceplanted’ against the wall when he got up during the night.

VALE PAT O’KEEFFE: REMEMBERING THE MAN BEHIND THE ‘SUPERCOACH’

“His flatmate found him on the ground next to his bed, it looks like he had a fall,” said a distraught Mr Johnson.

Pat O'Keeffe with one of his charges Zane Holmes.

“He was supposed to be training a young fella this morning and they went looking for him when he didn’t show up.

“He’d been sick and in and out of hospital but this was still a shock.

“We thought he was getting better.”

O’Keeffe, who had struggled with alcoholism, sculpted some of Australia’s toughest and most elite athletes from world-class jockeys and Olympic kayakers to some of our greatest lifesavers including Karla Gilbert, Ky Hurst, Zane Holmes, Hayley Bateup and Shannon Eckstein.

Gilbert, who last spoke to O’Keeffe “about a month ago”, said he was more than a coach to her.

“He did so much for me. I saw him as my second father,” she said, choking back tears.

Pat O'Keeffe (pictured with fellow Northcliffe surf club coach Barry Newman) helped turn the club into a powerhouse

“He really did have a good heart.

“I owe Patty my life — to come along and turn an ordinary athlete into a great athlete.

“We learnt a lot from each other. He really knew how to get the best out of me.

“If you proved to him that you were putting in the hard work, he gave his time to you.

“A lot of people weren’t willing to put in the hard work and that’s where things came undone in Pat’s eyes.”

​Gilbert began training under O’Keeffe after he had coached her brother, Jay Gilbert.

“I had heard all the stories and more,” she said.

“He really took me under his wing. He’d had a lot of success in the Olympics.

“He had a lot of knowledge and it was really kind of him to nurture me and give me his time.

“Not many athletes get someone special like that who didn’t expect anything in return.”

Gilbert credits O’Keeffe with her longevity as an athlete.

Close family friend Scott Johnson said O’Keeffe had been through tough times but was still a good bloke. Picture: Richard Gosling

“We had this little thing going, where if I’d done something like a certain session that was bloody hard, he used to say “it’s character building”.

“I used to reply “if I have any more character, I’ll burst”.

“We had so many highs and lows but we just stuck together and worked through them.

“He lived his nine lives. We knew this was coming but it’s still not easy.”

O’Keeffe helped reshape a struggling Northcliffe Surf Life Saving Club into a powerhouse after he moved there in 1985 and was named Surf Life Saving Queensland’s professional coach of the year for seven years in a row to 2008.

Gold Coaster Pat O'Keeffe at Northcliffe SLSC.

At the height of his success, O’Keeffe was still modest and down-to-earth — just sporting a smug smile when one of his proteges took out a race rather than triumphantly yelling.

O’Keeffe’s life had not been without struggle. He pushed through tragedy when his surfboat ambitions were cruelly cut short when — at 37-years-old — he broke his back when he fell from the surf club balcony.

His life spiralled in recent years and he nearly died in 2013 when he spent more than a week in an induced coma after heavy drinking finally took its toll.

Former top ironman coach Pat O'Keeffe has died suddenly in his Gold Coast home.

“It just hit me,’’ he recalled to the Gold Coast Bulletin of the moment years of alcohol abuse caught up with him.

“I was sitting at my desk when I started feeling shithouse and the next thing I knew I was spewing blood. It was coming out of my nose, my ears, everywhere ... I passed out and was in a coma for a week or so.

``When I woke up I couldn’t move my legs. I thought `I’m in all sorts here’. I couldn’t stand up. I couldn’t do a thing.

``They say you’ve got to hit rock bottom before you can fix yourself and I hit the bottom big-time. I was probably lucky to come out the other side ... I was at hell’s door but I now have a choice. I’ve got to stop drinking so much or I’ll die.’’

But his resolution didn’t stick.

He kept drinking and was convicted of fraud. But that still did not stop him.

Last year he was again charged with fraud after police allegedly discovered an operational boiler room in Southport on July 20.

It had an alleged call centre employing up to 12 people to cold-call victims and sell them advertising in non-existent magazines.

He was on bail awaiting a future court date when he died yesterday.

Mr Johnson said O’Keeffe had always maintained his innocence.

“Everyone says bad things about him but he wasn’t a bad bloke ... he was a good fella,” said Mr Johnson.

“He was always trying to help everyone else but himself.”

Funeral arrangements are being made.

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