For some people, turning 60 can be a bit of a downer but former champion rugby league fullback Garry Jack couldn’t have been happier to reach the milestone five years ago.
“It meant a bit to me,” Garry laughed. “I had a cardiac arrest at 59 years and 11 months and I was basically dead for about 10 minutes so I was pretty happy to get to 60.
“Turning 61, 62, 63, 64 and 65 have been pretty good, too. I’m grateful for every year.”
On January 22, 2021 Garry was at Castle Hill in Sydney starting a regular Brazilian jiu-jitsu training session when he collapsed. He was fit, watched his diet and had passed a cardiologist’s stress test 12 months earlier with flying colours.
So the heart attack came completely out of the blue and Garry is eternally grateful for what happened next.
“I was dead. I wasn’t breathing and there was no heart beat,” he said.
“My friend, Simon Farnsworth, started CPR and kept it up for nine minutes until the paramedics arrived. He just didn’t give up on me. If it weren’t for that CPR, I wouldn’t be here.”
Fortunately for Garry, defibrillators had been added to NSW ambulances since 1991 and that also contributed to him being revived.
Garry has just released a biography “Jumping Jimmy” through Fair Play Publishing. The title, of course, is a play on Garry’s nickname “Jimmy”. It was written with sports journalist Adam Hawse and broadcaster.
“I had never written one but I had always kept a notebook on me and had probably 20 or 30 of them at home. I was doing a regular podcast with Hawsie and he said ‘you really should do a book; I’ll help you write it,” Garry recalls.
“We lived in the same area in Sydney for years and had done probably 100 podcasts together so I like him and trust him.”
In the book, Garry tells all about the Blues’ first NSW Origin series win in 1985, his legal battle with Ian Roberts, and his stormy relationship with coach and broadcaster Alan Jones.
Most rugby league fans, whether they are from Queensland or NSW and whether they support the Balmain Tigers, would rate Garry Jack as one of the best fullbacks to have played the game.
He played 350 first-grade games for Wests (Illawarra), Western Suburbs, Balmain, Salford and Sheffield Eagles as well as 43 representative games for Australia (22), NSW (17) and City (4). He also coached Salford in 67 games in 1993-95.
He likes to keep fit and still does a session of Brazilian jiu-jitsu once a week.
“I’ve been doing jiu-jitsu for 25 years and used to train two or three times a week. I’m down to one session a week but I like to keep active.
“It stimulates my brain as well as keeping me fit.”
Garry is still involved with rugby league, as an ambassador for the NSW Pathways program, working with young people as they take the first steps towards possible careers in the game.
“It’s been great for me, too,” he said. “Some of the kids even remember that I won the Golden Boot (as international player of the year) in 1986.
“I tell them they have to have a goal and work hard for it and that they won’t win all the time but have to take lessons from not winning.”
As for what he thinks of today’s NRL, he says it’s “great”.
“The skill level and athleticism of today’s players is amazing. The game was more defence-orientated in the ‘80s but the attacking level of players like Reece Walsh and Kaylyn Ponga is something else.
“I don’t begrudge today’s players the money they are being paid. I’m a bit jealous because that sort of money wasn’t around when I played and I didn’t go full-time until I went to England but I still say they earn their pay packets.”
Garry famously missed the 1987 State of Origin exhibition game in Los Angeles to stay at home with his wife, Donna, who had just had their first son, Kieren. The decision cost him a two-week suspension from club football.
He and Donna have three sons – Kieren and Brandon, who both played for the Sydney Swans AFL team and Rhys who played for Balmain in the NSW Cup. They have three grandchildren.
“They live in Perth, so we don’t see them very often,” he said. “We try to do a video phone call at least once a week.”
Jumping Jack, by Garry Jack with Adam Hawse is available from the publisher Fair Play Publishing or at all major book outlets.
Barry Dick was a journalist at The Courier Mail and Sunday Mail for 43 years, before retiring in 2015. Most of that time was spent on the sports desk in a variety of roles including sports editor, digital sports editor, Rugby League editor and chief Rugby League writer. While Barry was the first full-time Australian football writer for The Courier Mail in 1973, his true passion was always Rugby League and he covered a myriad of Grand Finals, State of Origins and Test matches. Barry was inducted into the Media Hall of Fame on March 27 2017.