Cats mourn flag great
JIM ‘Jake’ Norman wore number 30 on his broad back in Geelong Football Club’s 1951 premiership.
Typically full of bustle and big-game ability, he ranked among drought-busting heroes that sentinel year, but when he went home to Horsham his laconic Dad John remained grounded.
As 1952 shaped up, John — presuming the lower the number the better the player — asked Jim what number he would be wearing that season.
On hearing 30 again, he remarked ‘Oh, so you didn’t have a very good year then’?
Cats great John Hyde chuckled at the memory of the exchange this week as he shared lament at the loss of his beloved mate in football and life, after his death in Horsham on July 26. Jim ‘Jake’ Norman was 88. He gave quality if not quan- tity in a remarkable career in the hoops, just 37 games, 28 of them winning, six of them finals, two of them premierships, in 1951-52.
In the history of the greatest game he ranks eighth for the least games played for two flags. His last senior outing was the 1952 grand final, his career cruelled by a 1953 pre-season knee injury. He played one last seconds game that season, in Round 8.
AFL historian Col Hutchinson emphasised the numbers as he reflected on the player with the big heart to match his big number.
“The strong, honest ruckman-forward pocket used his considerable bulk to advantage in the packs,” Hutchinson said.
“He was able to produce good form in big-occasion matches and kicked important goals when required.”
And Jake was always so highly regarded. When the extraordinarily tight brethren of those ’50s premiership sides gathered for their regular lunches a few times a year, powering into their 70s and 80s, there was always an extra buzz if Jake had made it down the highway.
“There he was, loveable,” Hyde said yesterday.
The two were particularly close and worked together at Strachan’s wool store on the corner of Moorabool and Brougham streets in the 1950s, catching the tram over the hill to training at Kardinia Park after work.
They worked Saturday mornings before knocking off for a steak and a game of footy, and worked the morning of at least one grand final.
“He was a beautiful knock ruckman, everything Jake did of course was well done,” Hyde said.
“He was probably our slowest player . . . but he played his best football on the MCG, the biggest ground.”
The two loved a beer together and Hyde recalls them having travelled to Melbourne for Norman to front the league tribunal.
After the hearing, their citywise advocate Laird Smith found them a pub open after closing to get some bottles for the trip home.
As Jake was carrying them across the street he tripped and tragically dropped the lot.
“So many great times,” Hyde said.
In the lee of Hyde’s Geelong career as an unflinching centre half-back, they drove across to Perth together in his Vauxhall Tourer, its canvas roof defying the dust of several hundred kilometres of unmade road.
They intended speculating on some land up for grabs at Esperance but got sidetracked in Perth, where Hyde was snapped up as the coach of Claremont.
Jake returned home to Horsham and worked in his Dad’s carrier business. He became a familiar oracle in the City Oval grandstand on game days. He never married and as his health faltered in later years, the loyalty of his teammates did not.
Hyde and back flanker Russ Middlemiss would travel regularly to spend time with him, until as recently as a month or so ago.
Geelong vice-president and Honouring the Past committee chairman Bob Gartland reflected on their extraordinary bond, as he confirmed that Cats players would wear black armbands today in Norman’s honour.
“It’s a wonderful thing to spectate and watch how these fine old men care for each other,” he said.
“I think it’s that brotherhood they share that made them successful as a team.”
Hyde had no indication of what was coming the last time he spoke to Jake a week before his death, and will now speak on behalf of the club and mateship at Jake’s funeral on Thursday.
“I just can’t believe I won’t see him again,” he said.
Jim ‘Jake’ Norman’s funeral will be at Horsham Anglican Church at 2pm on Thursday, August 3.