Michael Francis Williamson (June 1928 – 2 May 2019) was an Australian sports commentator and television presenter

Career

Williamson was a well-performed professional runner. Having been banned from professional foot-running for "running dead", he became a sports commentator of

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

matches in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

with radio stations 3AK and 3AW before joining the

HSV-7 HSV is a television station in Melbourne, Australia. It is part of the Seven Network, one of the three main commercial television networks in Australia, its first and oldest station. It launched in time for the 1956 Summer Olympic Games in Melbou ...

television station in 1959 as part of its VFL football broadcast team. Significant moments in Williamson's commentary career include the 1966 VFL Grand Final, when St Kilda won their first premiership, as well as the 1970 VFL Grand Final in which Williamson exclaimed "Jesaulenko, you beauty!" when Carlton player

Alex Jesaulenko Oleksandr Vasiliovych "Alex" Jesaulenko ( ; , ; born 2 August 1945) is a former Australian rules footballer and who played for the Carlton Football Club and the St Kilda Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL). He also served as a ...

took a dramatic contested mark. "Jesaulenko, you beauty!" became one of the most famous quotations in the history of Australian rules. The words were part of numerous advertising campaigns, including one for Carlton Draught, as well as a 2006

Toyota is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...

Legendary Moments campaign featuring Jesaulenko himself. As well as commentating, Williamson was involved with general announcing duties at both 3AK and 3AW. Staff at 3AW gave him the nickname "Scoop", a reference to his midday program ''Radio Roundsman'', featuring interviews with people making news around Melbourne. He also compèred the ''TAA Hit Parade'', a 6:00 pm Sunday program featuring the eight top tunes of the week. At HSV-7, he compèred a number of variety and quiz shows, the most notable being '' Tell the Truth'' and '' The Penthouse Club''. The latter was co-hosted by Mary Hardy, who later compèred the show with others, including Bill Collins and

Ernie Sigley Ernest William Sigley (2 September 1938 – 15 August 2021) was an Australian Gold Logie award winning television host, comedian, variety performer, radio presenter and singer. Known as a pioneer of radio and television in Australian, he was o ...

. Williamson died on 2 May 2019, at the age of 90.

Honours

Williamson retired in 1977 and was awarded the

Medal of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of then ...

in 2006 for his charity work with the

Royal Children's Hospital The Royal Children's Hospital (RCH), colloquially referred to as the Royal Children's, is a major children's hospital in Parkville, Victoria, Parkville, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Regarded as one of the great C ...

raising money for leukaemia research.Citation
at It's an Honour

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williamson, Mike 1928 births 2019 deaths 3AW presenters Australian rules football commentators Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Australian television presenters