B. MITCHELL

A former amateur boxer and second world war commando, Bill worked for many years as a masseur with the South Melbourne Football and Cricket Clubs. He toured overseas with Bradman and the Australian Cricket Teams as the team masseur.

He was renowned for his work as a masseur with the top sportsmen of the day, and anyone else who wandered into his rooms at the South Melbourne ground and was prepared to wait their turn. Bill didn’t charge for his work but everyone seemed to leave a donation of ten shillings on the table as a gesture of good will.

Bill first started training runners in about 1953 and continued with great success for the next 30 years training mainly distance runners until 1967, when he trained Brian Dunsford who won the 75yds and was 3rd in the Stawell Gift. He may have been a bit unlucky with Pat Bowd, who had his mark adjusted in the Gift in the weeks preceding Stawell when he looked like being a good thing.

Bill was noted for his love of the punt and many of his runners started favourite.

Bill died in 1981 but like many others his legacy lingers on.