BIO

Gordon Bryant Schwartz was born at Freeling in South Australia on the 23rd June 1922, the son of the successful local football captain and coach, Edwin Schwartz, and grew up at Port Pirie. He attended Prince Alfred College before serving as an RAAF Flight-Lieutenant in Europe in World War II.  

In 1939 he was centre half-back in the PAC team which lost by one point to St Peter’s College and by one point to Melbourne Grammar School.  He enlisted in the RAAF on the 20th June 1942 and completed a tour of duty as navigator in Sunderland flying boats over the Bay of Biscay.  He served in Overseas HQ in London before his discharge on 7th February 1946.

After demobilisation, he played three league games for Norwood as a left-footed half-forward in 1946-47 and 13 games with West Torrens in 1948. 

He was a country tennis champion and a state player. Gordon became a distinguished journalist and media commentator, covering his first league match for The Sunday Advertiser in 1954. By 1986, a year before his retirement, he had covered 1,000 SANFL football matches. Beyond newspapers, he had an extensive radio and television career with 5AD, 5DN and the ABC and anchored the World of Sport show on Channel 7 where he appeared for 17 years. 

His younger brother, Blair, was a popular TV entertainer. 

In 2002 Gordon Schwartz was inducted into the inaugural SA Football Hall of Fame as a journalist and in 2005 was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for service to journalism and sport in South Australia.

He was nearly 99 when he died at North Adelaide on 28th March 2021, survived by his younger son, David, but predeceased by his wife Jane and son Mark.

* For the picture we thank David Schwartz, son of Gordon

P Robins Aug 2014, April 2021