The late George Grljusich’s contribution to the Fremantle Football Club via his fundraising exploits have been lauded in a new book about the legendary broadcaster to be launched today at Fremantle Oval.

Written by former journalist and author Baden Pratt, GEORGE! The Life and Riotous Times of George Grljusich traces the former ABC and 6PR broadcaster’s roller-coaster life from his birth at Laverton on the edge of the Great Victoria Desert in 1939 to his death from lung cancer in 2007.

Pratt said Grljusich was a great fundraiser for Fremantle in the club’s formative years.

“In July 1999 Ross Kelly, then chairman of the Dockers’ Board of Management, wrote to him thanking him for ‘helping to put the club in a position where we can proceed with the construction of our new headquarters’,” Pratt writes.

“Prominent businessman Sydney D. Corser also thanked George ‘for the tremendous job you did in helping raise the funds for the Dockers HQ. I felt you set the pace and benchmarks for that campaign’.”

Other letters referred to in the book from the Harbour Masters and the Derby Club thanked Grljusich for spearheading the raising of thousands of dollars for facilities at Fremantle Oval.

In his recently released book, Fremantle Dockers: An Illustrated History, Les Everett quotes former Fremantle coach Chris Connolly as saying, “I remember we were on our bare bones and we didn’t have a ruck coach and so George Grljusich ran a function for us at the Trade Winds Hotel with [former federal opposition leader] Kim Beazley and [former footballer and coach] David Parkin as speakers. George just demanded people buy tables. After the event he brought about $52,000 in a biscuit tin into the club to help pay for Simon Eastaugh to come on as ruck coach.”

Published by Roundhouse Press, Pratt’s 300-page book, due to be launched today by Grljusich’s former 6PR colleague Paul Murray, is available through roundhousepress.com