By Vic Jeremiah*
AT the John Coleman Coterie luncheon held on 19 March the Hastings Football/Netball Club again recognized the contribution of past players and officials with the induction of five people to the Club’s Hall of Fame and the elevation of Bob Stone to the status of “Legend”.
Bob Stone (pictured), a member of a well known Somers family, was a prominent footballer from an early age, playing eight senior games for the Melbourne Football Club in 1942 as a 16 year-old.
Post-war he played 165 senior games with Hastings and was a member of the 1946-’47 and ’48 premiership sides. Not only did he win five best-and-fairest awards for Hastings Football Club but he also won the Mornington Peninsula Football League best-and-fairest trophy on four occasions; he is the only player in MPFL history to achieve this honour. Ron Stone was included in Hastings Football Club’s Team of the Century and was selected at centre-half-back in the MPFL’s Team of the Century.
Essendon great John Coleman was once asked to nominate the most talented footballer who he had played with or against in country football. He had no hesitation in naming his former Hastings team-mate Bob Stone.
Bob Stone died in 2015 and his son Lewis represented the family at the presentation.
The five past players/administrators who were admitted to the Hall of Fame were Wayne Lewis, Lindsay Bull, Vincent Booth, Kevin Standfield and the late Tim Mirabella who was represented at the ceremony by his son Dennis.
*Vic Jeremiah is the club historian at Hastings Football Club.
First published in the Western Port News – 12 April 2023
