Stanley George Wallis
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
November 17, 1927 - March 2, 2013.
Tough on the field, humble off it.
Stanley (Stan) Wallis excelled at sport, as a footballer in winter and a cricketer in summer.
In Ballarat he was a club and (eventually) league best and fairest, and played seven games of VFL (AFL) football with Footscray. If work commitments had not dictated otherwise, he may well have played a lot more at the elite level.
Stan lived most of his life in the Ballarat region, and played football with Ballarat Football Club.
He was not the biggest guy on the field but was pretty tough according to son David.
"You talk to a lot of people and they say he was one of the best rovers in the BFL's history," David said. "He was only five foot three but his playing weight was 12.5 stone.
"They reckon he was pretty tough but he also had some terrific skills and he was also a goalkicker in his day."
Stan won a Greenfield Trophy as the Ballarat Football Club's best and fairest player. He might have won several more except that the club's policy for many years was that a player could only win one Greenfield Trophy in their career.
Shifting to Melbourne to work with the railways as an apprentice coppersmith, Stan played football with Footscray and District Football League club Waratahs, winning the league best and fairest award. That's when Footscray approached him to play at Western Oval, a career that was cut short at just seven VFL games in 1947 and 1948.
The move back to Ballarat to continue his work with the railways marked a return to the Ballarat Football League where he tied for the The Courier Medal in 1952 when only one medal was issued per season, losing on a countback.
In 2010 the BFL decided to award the Henderson Medal (the award the succeeded The Courier Medal as the league best and fairest honour) to joint winners who had missed out on a countback, bringing it in line with current practice. Stan was honoured along with Lindsay Tucker (1965) and Tom Simpson (1965).
"John Smith from the Ballarat Football Club got the ball rolling on it," David says.
"He might have won it in his own right except in the last game of the season he went in to help a team mate and clocked a bloke. He probably would have got three votes that day if he hadn't done that.
"I think the whole family was pretty proud of it. When he got it he would show everyone his medal. Now he has passed away, we can't find it. We've looked everywhere for it."
Stan retired from playing at age 28 but continued his love of football by coaching, with Ballarat, Redan, Wendouree, East Ballarat and Bungaree.
His coaching career included four grand finals in a row with Bungaree (winning two), and the remarkable feat of coaching two premiership sides on the one day with Redan: an under-14 side in the morning followed by the under-18s in the afternoon.
He also coached Wendouree's under-16s to a premiership.
When the seasons changed, "Stumps" switched his focus to cricket.
"He loved both games and never said he had a preference for one or the other," David says.
"My brother and I played A-grade cricket with him. There were always a lot of father and sons who played A-grade cricket but as far as I know we are the only father and two sons to play together in the BCA."
Stan was an opening batsman and keeper. When not behind the stumps, he was also a very handy cover fieldsman, David says.
"Dad was a life member of the Ballarat Cricket Club, which became Ballarat-Redan," David explains. "They made a rule that every A-grade side had to have a junior (under-15) side. Before that Ballarat didn't have juniors. Well, he took it on as coach and they won the first five premierships in a row."
Stan was also a life member of the Ballarat Sportmen's Association, of the City of Ballarat Brass Band, Victorian Railways Institute (VRI) and was - like his father and two brothers - a life member of the Ballarat Football Umpires Association. In later years he played bowls at Ballarat City (now BMS) and golf at Mt Xavier.
This year he would have been married 62 years to wife Jean, and had three sons: Bruce, Robert and David.
"Mum would always help him out with his sports," David says.
"He was a very devoted family man and very good to everybody, basically. He was great with his nine grandkids and three great grandkids as well."
Stan is survived by wife Jean and his three sons.