Five-time Richmond premiership hero and Tiger ‘Immortal’ Kevin Bartlett celebrates a major birthday milestone today.
Bartlett turns 70 years of age, having been born on March 6, 1947.
He made his senior league debut for Richmond as an 18-year-old, in Round 3 of the 1965 season against St Kilda at the MCG, and went on to carve out a magnificent 403-game career with the Tigers – the most by any player in the Club’s proud history.
The man affectionately known as ‘KB’, or ‘Hungry’, won the Jack Dyer Medal five times, took out the Tigers’ leading goalkicker award on four occasions, and was named first rover in Richmond’s Team of the Century.
KB was an outstanding performer in five premiership sides with the Tigers (1967, 1969, 1973, 1974 and 1980) – the first four as a brilliant, ‘ball-magnet’ No. 1 rover, and the last one as a dynamic half-forward.
His dazzling seven-goal display, in Richmond’s 1980 Grand Final demolition of Collingwood, earned him the Norm Smith Medal for being best-on-ground.
The 778 goals he kicked over 19 seasons with Richmond, places him in third place on the Club’s all-time goalkicking list.
He also captained the Tigers in 1979, was their senior coach from 1988-91, and is an Australian Football Hall of Fame Legend.
On behalf of everyone at Tigerland, many happy returns for your 70th birthday, KB, and thanks for all those wonderful memories you provided us with.
We also extend birthday best wishes to another Tiger great today . . . four-time premiership star, Dick Clay, who turns 72.
Clay made his debut with Richmond in Round 2 of the 1966 season, against Footscray at the MCG, and played 213 league games all-up.
He was a top-class wingman in Richmond’s 1967 and 1969 premiership line-ups, and subsequently gained selection on a wing in the Tigers’ Team of the Century.
But Clay also had a significant impact at full-back during the latter part of his league career, performing with distinction in that vital, key defensive post in the back-to-back Richmond premiership sides of 1973-74.
