Clinton Grybas dies

RADIO personalities, high-profile footballers and prominent Melbourne identities have thronged to the funeral of sports commentator Clinton Grybas.

More than 1000 mourners turned out for the service including Essendon spearhead Matthew Lloyd, fellow commentators Bruce McAvaney and Tim Lane, former footy stars Wayne Carey, Garry Lyon, Jason Dunstall, Tony Shaw and Rohan Smith, businessman Ron Walker, 3AW chief Graham Mott, colleagues Rex Hunt, Gerard Healy, Dwayne Russell and Robert Walls, coaches Rodney Eade and Terry Wallace, player manager Ricky Nixon, and AFL chairman Mike Fitzpatrick.

Emotional colleagues and family members fondly remembered the extraordinary life of the boy from Warrandyte who mimicked Richie Benaud and Harry Beitzel as a child, lived his dream to become one of the nation's finest broadcasters, and touched all walks of life with his warmth and kindness.

His brother Ashley choked back tears as he paid tribute.

“Now he’s called his last game and the final siren’s sounded," he said, struggling to keep going.

"Clint, you’ve now got the best seat in the house to all the sporting events that you’ll ever hope to see. We will always love you Clint and we’ll always miss you.

"We love you mate. Rest in peace."

Mystery still surrounds the death of Grybas, aged 32. He was found next to his bed in his Southbank apartment 10 days ago.

His trembling girlfriend, Laurenna Toulmin, was inconsolable at the end of the service as she tenderly reached out to touch the coffin smothered in white roses.

Earlier, she bravely stood before the congregation, recalling their fairytale romance and how they told each other they loved each other every single day. Her last words to her soulmate were the same.

"I’m just so grateful to have had him in my life. And I’m so grateful that his last words to me ... were 'I love you'. And I'm so grateful mine too were "I love you','' she said.

"We said I love you all day every day... I am proud to say we were the sickeningly perfect couple."

Fellow commentator Rex Hunt broke down as he credited Grybas for helping to save his career, when he doubted he had the strength to go on.

“When the rest of the world wanted to condemn me, your beautiful boy stood by me,” he said to Grybas’ mother.

He said a friendship with Grybas had “no fine print”, and described an enthusiastic, passionate and "outstanding young man" who had put “the spring in the step" of the 3AW team.

"There are some very big shoes to fill in the broadcasting box and they will take some filling, make no mistake.

“I wonder what might have been, and hope that one day that I won’t feel so bad as I do today.”

FoxSports football co-host Gerard Healy said the loss of Grybas was a major blow to Australia’s sporting culture.

He said he had left an indelible mark and had raised the commentating bar "to a level that at times staggered his peers".

"The words of Clinton were a powerful force that more often than not turned a B-grade match into an A-grade viewing spectacle ... It was simply his great gift," Healy said.

"I’ll miss doing up your tie, but most of all I’ll miss raising my hands in the box in silence to applaud your genius with words”.

Vanessa Amorosi's tribute song Shine rang out among the mourners.

The Melbourne-born singer relived the hit which topped the Australian charts and highlighted her as a star when she performed at the opening and closing ceremonies of the Sydney Olympics.

The song was Grybas' favourite and he was also fond of Amorosi as a performer.

Mike Brady sang another Grybas favourite, Aussie rules anthem Up There Cazaly.

A video produced by Foxtel featured a host of tributes from the sporting industry.

Among them included one of his first bosses, Peter Booth, who remembered Grybas' glee at being offered a gig on Friday night football on the ABC.

Former basketball champ Michele Timms said Grybas had been a great friend to her sport.

And 3AW's general manager, Graham Mott, said Grybas had called the soccer, tennis, AFL, athletics, boxing, and at the 2000 Olympics water polo with astonishing talent.

"He could call ants crawling up a wall,” Mr Mott said.

Seven Network commentator Bruce McAvaney said Grybas was “just a wonderful role model”, and a thorough professional who always ensured he prepared meticulously.

AFL boss Andrew Demetriou said Grybas had earned the respect of his industry and the public through the “sheer brilliance” of his calls.

And Collingwood Football Club president Eddie McGuire said simply: “Sport won’t be as good as it would have been without Clinton around to describe it."

Brother Ashley remembered a young brother prone to pranking, playing at commentator - being Richie Benaud in the lounge room.

“He loved his work and he loved the lifestyle, he often said he would do it for free.”

Among the most poignant moments of the service was the playing of a voice recording of Grybas as a child, practising as a commentator as the video screen showed his methodically produced columns of footy scores and player and commentator names.

Ashley said his brother kissed their mum, Sandra, at every greeting and farewell without fail.

“Tragically he kissed her for the last time on New Year’s Day, on a great family day.”

Elton John's Candle in the Wind was playing as mourners entered the CityLife Church in Wantirna South from 11am.

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Three large screens inside the church showed Grybas beaming and holding earphones above a stage adorned with white lillies before clips of Grybas' appearances on TV and radio were played.

Compere and veteran broadcaster Tony Charlton said the family had planned a small funeral for just 200 in Warrandyte, but had been overwhelmed by the response from teachers, sponsors, taxi drivers, the “whole gamut”, Mr Charlton said.

He said it was still a mystery why he had died suddenly 10 days ago. There has been speculation he may have died while sleepwalking.

“Tests are still being conducted by the coroner. No clues have so far been determined.

“What do you say to a stricken mother so proud of her son, and a father who watched their son with quiet satisfaction, and how do you console a partner who says that he will be forever a part of her?”

Ms Toulmin, a traffic reporter who lingered around the 3AW office in the early days of their romance, told the service of their incredible bond and of her partner's limitless potential and caring for others.

"Clinton always made my achievements seem so much more important than his own," she said.

"He could have been anything."

She said he did not seem to stop commentating, even about her cooking and her driving.

She believed his greatest call of all was when "the mighty Cats won the grand final".

He had planned to ask her to marry him and had even asked a mate how he should pop the question, quipping that he was always doing his research.

"Of course I would have said yes, by the way.

"He loved kids and would have been a great father. He was really just a big kid himself."

Pallbearers carried out the coffin to a recording of Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman's Time to say Goodbye.