Rugby community loses great character in Pilecki
ONLY Stan Pilecki’s giant heart gave him an extra 14 years of life and all those who called him a teammate, laughed with him or enjoyed his generosity knew how big it really was.
The rugby community is mourning the loss of the former Wallabies and Queensland prop, a true one- of- a- kind character who died yesterday aged 70 at his Brisbane home.
When “The Pole” spent three weeks in intensive care with acute septicaemia in 2003, many thought they’d lost him, when less than 10 per cent survive from those levels. He defied the odds as he so often did during his rugby career.
He didn’t play the first of his 18 Tests until he was 31, was 35 when he became the first to play 100 games for Queensland and was helping his beloved Wests in the top grade at 39.
“We’ve lost one, if not the greatest character of our sport,” said Rugby Australia president Tony Shaw, a longtime representative teammate.
“His impact on the field was more than matched by the contribution he made away from rugby, embodying the great spirit of the game.”
Pilecki folklore is all greater because it’s true.
He was smoking a cigarette on the bench when needed as a the replacement for a midweek Wallabies match in Argentina in 1979 and once said “anyone can have an off decade” when tryscoring eluded him.
Pilecki was always quick with a line and you had to be to outduel his 1984 Wallabies coach Alan Jones as Terry Smith recounted in the book Path to Victory.
“Exercise removes fat, Stanley,” Jones said after yet another training day. Pilecki replied: “Yeah. You’re proof … no double chin.”
Being branded a “character” can often divert from a full appreciation of a player’s skill and Pilecki had ample.
Pilecki was a big, burly front- row figure but never as frightening as he looked with cauliflower ears which took decades to cultivate.
He is enshrined in the Pilecki Medal awarded to the Reds’ best player each season. living