Voice of Origin was
Sport fans remember Eastlake
“H-U-G-E.” In voice and in spirit, that is how Darrell Eastlake will be remembered by Gold Coast surf lifesaving.
During the 1990s when he was a sports commentator for Nine, Darrell Eastlake at day’s end would enter the bar at Broadbeach, directly across from Kurrawa’s Australian Surf Life Saving titles.
Mark Reaburn, who was his co-commentator during the hugely popular Nutri-Grain ironman series at surf’s peak in the Trevor Hendy era, recalled the tough surf boaties waiting for Eastlake.
“The boaties would love him in a fun way. They’d all ask him to say ‘H-U-G-E’. He’d (finally) say it and the place would light up,” Reaburn told the Bulletin.
Eastlake died yesterday at a Central Coast Nursing Home, aged 75, after a battle with Alzheimer’s disease and emphysema., Channel Nine said. He owned the booming voice heard during the early State of Origin broadcasts.
At the weightlifting at 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland that voice caused him to be removed from the commentary floor. He loved motorsport and driving fast in a car.
But his real passion was surf boat rowing which Reaburn, a former Surf Lifesaving Australian captain, knows Eastlake was honest enough to admit he was lousy at, as a sweep.
“He was absolutely passionate about surf lifesaving and his boaties. We used to sit sideby-side with headphones. He could not keep still when the surf boats were rowing,” Reaburn said.
“He was up and down like a yoyo, salivating like a man possessed. He swept a boat with limited success — he acknowledged it himself. But he knew it, he really knew the skill set.”
Reaburn was walking with Eastlake back to Nine’s headquarters at Kurrawa when he collapsed after commenting on the surf at the 1993 titles.
“He dropped to the ground. There were clubbies on to him in 10 seconds.
“He was taken to the Gold Coast Hospital. He was dead. It was the perfect place to have a heart attack. He had defribillators (all around him).”
Reaburn recalls then Nine owner Kerry Packer later contacting Eastlake and arranging for a private flight back to Sydney.
Surf and swimming’s Ian Hanson, who handled media management at the carnivals, recalled Eastlake collapsing.
“It was directly after the march past. It was a big shock to everyone who was there. He was larger than life.
“We have produced the odd larrikin. Darrell was probably the king of the larrikins.”
Reaburn has a framed letter from Eastlake that says everything about his old-school style.
Eastlake had worked as a Qantas baggage handler, old black and white photographs show a slimmer and younger version of himself running a Cronulla surf shop before in the 1960s he worked at radio station 2UW and began his media career.
Reaburn and Eastlake would joke about Reaburn’s father Bob, a doctor, treating him for a middle ear infection when he was working at the Coast’s 4GG station in the 1970s.
In the handwritten 1995 letter Eastlake wrote: “Hi Mark, just wanted to say well done and thanks for the summer, mate, you are the best ‘colour man’ in the game — I must add you make my role a hell of a lot easier.”
Aware of the rollercoaster ride for sports commentary, Eastlake writes that “each season is a year to year thing”.
“Let’s hope we can ‘do it’again next year, next summer I should say, thanks again and kindest regards, Dazza.”
Reaburn retains a vision of Eastlake on his feet as the boats confronted Kurrawa’s unpredictable and crunching surf breaks. “When the boats were racing, he was a sight to behold,” he said.