The passing of Charlie Stewart last week has ended the journey of one of the greatest players to have graced the ovals of the Goulburn Valley Football League.
Charlie was a powerhouse midfielder with a penetrating left foot who could win games with his own brilliance.
He passed away in Albury on Tuesday of last week after battling ill health for some years.
Recruited from Waaia he played in Kyabram’s Tony Bull-coached 1958 premiership side as a teenager and in 1959 was in Cobram’s flag-winning side in the Murray league.
He was then a member of the Lemnos (Shepparton Swans) side which won the GVL flag in 1960 to complete a personal hat-trick of premiership wins in two different leagues.
AFL scouts quickly became aware of his ability and in 1961 he was recruited by Footscray (Western Bulldogs).
He played 20 games for Footscray in the 1961 season and was member of its runner-up side to the Graham Arthur-captained Hawthorn which won its first flag in that year.
Returning to the Goulburn Valley he rejoined Kyabram in 1962 and then coached the club for three years —1963 to 1965 — winning the league’s Morrison Medal in 1963.
He coached another GVL club Stanhope after his Kyabram days and got it into a finals series in the late 1960s.
AFL legend Kevin Sheedy paid the ultimate compliment to Charlie when he claimed one of the biggest hidings he ever received on a football field when the GVL representative side played Richmond in the late 1950s.
“He (Charlie) gave me a real lesson on how to play in that game,’’ Sheedy said later.
Sheedy caught up with Charlie after their playing days were over in later life to discuss that game and how much he rated him as a player.
Charlie’s VFL (AFL) career lasted only the one season because Footscray issued an ultimatum that it didn’t want him competing in rodeo events in which he also excelled as a rough rider.
His funeral will take place on Wednesday, November 13, at 10.30am, at Lester and Son Funerals Albury, 359 Wantigong St, Albury.