Ballarat Swans are dedicating their Ballarat Football Netball League Anzac Day clash with Lake Wendouree to a club champion killed in action in World War II.
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The Swans are remembering the life and football deeds of Max Wheeler, who died in action in Syria on June 17, 1941. He was 29.
Ballarat senior coach Chris Maple said it was important for today's generations to be aware of the contributions and sacrifices ordinary people like Wheeler made for Australia.
He said the more he had looked into the life of Wheeler, the more remarkable he had found he was as a family man, member of the community, sportsman and soldier.
Wheeler had a relatively short career with Ballarat, but what a mark he made.
More than 80 years down the track, he continues to hold the club's senior goalkicking record of 359.
This was a remarkable feat, given he made just 61 appearances for the Swans over five seasons. He had a game-high of 17.
Maple said Wheeler had kicked 108 goals in 1936 and a season later found himself at Hawthorn in the VFL.
He said Wheeler played just the one senior match with the Hawks before returning to Ballarat to kick 93 goals in each of the 1938 and 1939 seasons.
Wheeler won the Greenfield Trophy as Ballarat's best and fairest in 1939. The trophy, a mantel clock, was passed onto the club last year after being found in a garage sale.
He enlisted in the AIF in 1940.
Australianfootball.com records that he set sail for the Middle East, leaving behind his pregnant wife and two children - arriving arriving in Suez in May 1941,
Wheeler travelled to Palestine in Syria. He was one of 27 Australian soliders to die when his battalion came under machine gun and trench mortar fire.
He is buried in the Damascus Commonwealth Cemetery.
Ballarat Football Netball Club footballers and netballers laid a wreath in memory of Wheeler near the Arch of Victoria earlier this week.
