Legendary Australian sports broadcaster Darrell Eastlake has died, aged 75, after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease and emphysema.
Channel Nine reports the former Wide World of Sports commentator passed away on Thursday morning at a nursing home on the NSW Central Coast.
Eastlake was the voice of State of Origin games in the 1980s and early 90s, and worked in television and radio for more than 40 years.
Known for his booming voice and larger-than-life personality, he also called motorsports, weightlifting, and the Commonwealth and Olympic Games.
AFL commentator and Nine personality Eddie McGuire, who worked with Eastlake at the Commonwealth Games, said he was "larger than life" and a man who did his homework.
"He was a great teammate and I had many great times with him," McGuire told Triple M. "He was sensational on air."
Speaking in 2016, Eastlake's wife, Julie, detailed the tragic toll his illness had taken on both of them.
"It's been so hard for me to tell him he can't come home," Mrs Eastlake told Channel Nine's A Current Affair.
"If he falls, I can't pick him up and he has fallen so many times.
"He gets very down because he thinks he's forgotten, but he's not forgotten - he's really and truly not.
"I do a lot of crying when I leave the nursing home. I sit here and say to myself, 'where's my man gone?'"
Eastlake retired from broadcasting in 2005.
Newshub.
