By NOEL MURPHY
GEELONG Cats legend Doug Wade has suffered a mild stroke overseas, according to unconfirmed reports.
Details were sketchy on the condition of the 73-year-old yesterday after his health scare in Asia.
Sources said they believed Wade was not in danger but were surprised and shocked to hear of his stroke.
“He’s had a bit of a flutter but we believe he’s all right,” one source told the Independent.
Wade’s family did not return the Independent’s calls, nor did Cats chief Brian Cook or Wade’s colleageus at Sage Institute of Education.
Wade, who lives at Drysdale, was the first player after World War II to kick 1000 goals in his career.
He finished with a total of 1057 – second only at the time to Collingwood great Gordon Coventry. Wade kicked 834 goals with Geelong and 223 with North.
Only three players have since kicked over 1000 goals: Tony Lockett, Jason Dunstall and Gary Ablett senior.
Wade played 267 VFL football matches between 1961 through 1975 – 208 with Geelong and the remainder at North.
He topped the home-and-away goal-kicking four times against formidable competition such as Hawthorn’s Peter Hudson and Collingwood’s Peter McKenna.
Wade played in premierships with Geelong in 1963 and the Kangaroos in 1975.
He was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 1996.
Friends and Cats figures were shocked to hear of the footballing giant’s illness.
Geelong Football Club Past Players association secretary Peter Menzies told the Independent Wade was “a larger than life character”.
“We certainly value his contribution to the past players,” he said.
Wade is father to three and grandfather to six.
He lives on a 40-hectare property and is a regular golfer at Curlewis, Point Lonsdale and Barwon Heads, playing off 13.
While Wade’s career is replete with highlights, a 1970 on-field episode he was involved in remains one of the game’s most bizarre.
Early in the final quarter of an August match against South Melbourne, Wade lined up for goal 30 yards out and 15 from the boundary. His kick was critical to Geelong’s flag prospects – moreover, if the Cats didn’t win it would be the first time in eight years they failed to reach the finals berth.
But as Wade moved in to kick, an apple came sailing through the air, thrown from the crowd. It hit the ball squarely, deflecting it off Wade’s boot. South’s John Rantall seized the ball and hared off goalward.
Geelong lost by seven points.
