“OF THE thousands of stories I wrote across more than half a century in sports journalism, none gave me more pleasure than the story that appeared on the front page of the Herald Sun on August 13, 1994.
“It was headlined MY JOY – it referred to Jezza’s joy, not mine.”
This is Ron Reed, recounting with genuine empathy his exclusive reporting of the incredible chain of events which led to the legendary former Carlton footballer Alex Jesaulenko discovering that his long-lost elder brother – a Polish-born wartime survivor - had sought to make contact with Alex’s mother through the International Red Cross.
As a Carlton supporter old enough to remember this football club’s days of yore, Reed’s telling of the Jesaulenko tale is related with a glorious depth of feeling – as is his conversion from Melbourne to the old dark Navy Blues by way of his lifelong pal – the 249-game four-time Premiership follower Peter ‘Percy’ Jones.
By birth a Melbourne devotee through the sizeable influence of another Percy - his great uncle Percy Beames – Reed was persuaded to switch allegiances after Jones accepted an invitation from the equally fervent Carlton devotee and fellow scribe Peter Coster to room with them at their flat in Toorak.
This arrangement was, as Reed writes, “interesting” for want of a better word.
“It wasn’t long before the doorbell rang at dawn one morning, and there was an agitated (Carlton Coach Ron) Barassi demanding to know where his ruckman was, storming into the bedroom shouting: ‘Get up you loafer!’ and dragging him off to a training session at a nearby park.”
Tales of ‘Jezza’, Jones and Parc de Princes are but part of the seismic sporting experiences upon which Reed has drawn for the purposes of War Games. As the Herald & Weekly Times’ longest-serving employee upon his retirement in 2016, he has also reflected on the many and varied sports happenings covered in more than 30 countries across all continents – from the Olympic and Commonwealth Games to Ashes tours, the Giro d’Italia, title fights and the Police and Fireman Games – and the likes of Dawn Fraser, Shane Warne and Phar Lap feature prominently.
Also documented is another of Ron’s heroes – this one a hero in the game of life - his late father Bill Reed. As Ron reveals, Private William Cecil Reed of the 2nd/3rd Machine Gun Battalion somehow endured four years as a Prisoner of War of the Japanese, survived being torpedoed at sea, and ultimately walked away from the atomic bomb which flattened Nagasaki to brutally end the Second World War.
In a frenetic online world where the ever-changing news cycle now dictates that it’s not so much about who’s right but who’s first, it’s reassuring to know that renowned wordsmiths of Ron Reed’s ilk continue to ply their precious craft.
WAR GAMES – A Father & Son Memoir of War & Sport by Ron Reed retails for $29.99 through www.wilkinsonpublishing.com.au
