I was shocked to hear of the death this week of Manly football legend Terry "Tezza" Hill, it's believed due to a heart attack. Not least because of his age - 52.
Every time I hear of someone who has died of a heart attack at the age of 52, I feel I've been hit with a tonne of bricks.
My partner, Mark, died of a heart attack aged 52, in 2017.
Cricket god Shane Warne died of a heart attack aged 52, in 2022. The same year, Victorian senator Kimberley Kitching, died. Fifty-two. A heart attack.
Just days after Warne died, Essendon legend Dean Wallis suffered a heart attack. At the age of 52. Thankfully, he survived.
All just a coincidence, but it makes me feel every death or close call more keenly.
Terry Hill also reminds me of a simpler, more innocent time when boofheads talking footy and eating chillis for a dare were prime-time television ratings gold.
Along with Paul "Fatty" Vautin, Peter Sterling, Paul "The Chief" Harragon and Mario Fenech, Terry Hill was a staple of The Footy Show, Channel Nine's Thursday night rugby league program, that ran from 1994 to 2018, as much vaudeville as footy stats and commentary.
It was like your local footy club review - remember those? - on steroids. Well, maybe not steroids. But ... bigger.
Terry "Tezza" Hill, lispy and stumbling over his words, was on the program at, arguably its height, from 1996 to 2000.
Decked out in a gold jacket, Tezza was regularly sent out to interview bewildered overseas guests, Norman Gunston-style.
One time he memorably asked Hollywood star Charlie Sheen, at a Planet Hollywood opening, if Sheen thought Queensland could come back from its first loss against NSW in the State of Origin.
"If they really believe in themselves, absolutely they can. They'll be able to dig a little deeper," Sheen said, playing along. For a bit.
"I don't know what you're talking about, but it makes sense. Right?"
While known for his footy career, especially with Manly, that included wearing the green and gold for Australia, Hill also had another passion - greyhounds.
Greyhound Racing NSW was among those paying tribute to Hill in the wake of his death this week. Chief executive Rob Macauley said Hill had been one of the great assets of the industry.
"Terry had great enthusiasm for greyhound racing and was responsible for helping the sport to attract widespread media coverage in the 1990s with his live television crosses to Dapto on a Thursday night during the Channel Nine Footy Show to watch his greyhound Nads race," Macauley said.
"Years later, Terry said he would be stopped on The Corso at Manly, not to be asked about his football career, but to chat about Nads and the racetrack he loved, Dapto."
Ah, Nads. Remember him? (I thought he was owned by everyone on The Footy Show? No matter.)
The significance of Nads' name always came to the fore, of course, when fans were barracking for him.
"Go, Nads!"
Completely juvenile, I know. But funny.
Nads was his own star.
I remember he once visited the local greyhound track in my hometown of Muswellbrook in the Hunter Valley.
It was like Beyonce had dropped by, such was the excitement.
And, of course, Terry Hill will always be remembered for his starring role in the Lowes ads, providing champagne acting as he flogged the fleecy-lined sloppy joes and tracky-dacks.
He was a character, someone who might not have been perfect but was human and himself.
RIP, Tezza.
