THE VRMA mourns the loss of a highly respected member, Clem Dimsey – popular racecaller and journalist with Channel 1O and ABC.
A memorial service was held on Monday September 23 at the Medallion Bar, Caulfield racecourse.
Here is an edited transcript of thge eulogy delivered by VRMA president Greg Miles.
“I first met Clem here at Caulfield on the top deck of a grandstand that now no longer exists. It was the autumn of 1980.
I was sitting in the old ABC broadcast box when a big happy smiling face appeared and a fist was thrust through the window. “Hi there, I’m Clem” A lovely old man. It was Clem’s dad. He’d accompany Clem to the races most Saturdays. He always had time for a chat and listened with interest to my tales. We got on well. It turns out the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.
Clem started his radio career some years earlier at 3DB, as a turntable operator.
By all accounts, Clem was a fantastic turntable operator – for the first 15 minutes. After that, with things moving along nicely, he’d tell newsreader David Johnston that he needed to slip out for a few minutes.
He would then spend the remaining three and three quarter hours in the nearby sports office, talking about racing, footy, cricket, whatever the season. That was his real passion.
In addition to his 15 minutes as a panel operator, Clem was assistant caller to the great Bill Collins, a man he grew very close to.
He left 3DB and moved to Channel O in 1966 where he called his first Melbourne Cup in 1973. He also broadcast the first live televised Cup in 1978 and continued until 1984.
During his time at 0 and then 10 he made so many friends and helped launch the careers of some of the big names of the game now like Bruce McAvaney , Eddie Maguire, and Steven Quartermaine.
Every morning, with Coke in hand Clem’s good morning chats could last up to 15 minutes per person. By the time he’d finished saying G’day it was lunchtime.
Clem was famous for his larrikin nature and a story from Channel 10 weatherman Rob Gell captures Clem’s waggish character perfectly…
When Channel 10 news was at its peak, Rob was the weatherman and Clem was often the sport man.
Clem would frequently lean across to Rob on the news set and tell Rob that, if he wanted to be remembered, he needed to be more of a tipster – not a forecaster.
Clem suggested to Rob during the week before Christmas that he should predict a temperature of 40 degrees for Christmas Day.
“Why the hell would I do that,’’ Rob said.
‘’Because if you say it’s going to be 24 degrees, you’ll be just like every other weather forecaster. No-one will remember you,” Clem answered.
“But if you tip 40 degrees and you just happen to fluke it, everyone will remember you.”
The basis for Clem’s theory was that he had tipped Piping Lane at odds of forty to one to win the 1972 Melbourne Cup.
Clem’s logic in tipping the ‘roughie’ was that – if Piping Lane didn’t win – no-one would remember anyway.
But Piping Lane did salute and – as it turned out – Clem was a genius.
He tipped a lot of winners, Clem, but we haven’t had too many 40 degree Christmas Days.
When Clem left Channel Ten, he had a short stint at Athletics Australia before returning to racing as the Melbourne Bureau correspondent for the Daily Telegraph.
Clem also did a lot of PR work for Sporting Management Concepts, AAMI Victoria Derby and the Oakbank Racing Club, where he formed a close relationship with Brendan Cormick.
A real coup that Clem was quite proud of was bringing together international jockeys Scobie Breasley and Pat Glennon at the famous Oakbank Carnival in 2006 . They hadn’t seen each other in 40 years when Glennon won the Arc at Longchamp on Sea Bird.
Clem had many great moments at the Oakbank Carnival, but it must be said that one year, he was lucky to even make the return flight to Melbourne .
He was checking in at the airport on his way home one year and was told by the ‘young lady’ that she was unable to ‘check his suitcase in’….he became quite indignant (as you can well imagine) and asked her why not ?
I got it here! Why cant I get it back?
To which she replied that it was a policy of the airline not to allow anything on board that had a COLLINGWOOD STICKER ON IT !!
I have so many memories of Clem. So many stories….and I will remain true to our pact Clem ….. some stories will never be told!
Clem’s well-known love of coke was almost matched by his love of smokes. He tried to give up more times than you could imagine. One on occasion Clem and I decided to drive to Warrnambool for the final day of the 3 day carnival. For some reason neither of us was working but wanted to go for the day.
We’d made our way through Geelong heading for Colac when Clem started to make noises about what a long drive it was and that I should have a break. “No I’m fine mate it’s only 2 hours 45 done it many times… But Clem was insistent…you must have a break!
So we pulled into Winchelsea for a stretch of the legs and Clem couldnt wait to get out a smoke….
On the return journey we called into the pub at Waurn Ponds for a meal. When we returned to the car I saw we had a flat tyre on the right hand front side. Clem wandered around and said you have another one here.. and here…and here”! …they’re all flat.
Dejected we sat down and wondered …perhaps a disgruntled punter had taken revenge on our racing selections in a most vicious manner?
After about 10 minutes of mournful silence Clem noticed that one of the tyres wasn’t flat after all. It was just the way the shadow fell on the bottom of the wheel. In fact he said “you idiot they’re all ok” He roared with laughter and often reminded me of that night.
We had many good years working together at the ABC. Clem was a great idea’s man. If you needed an angle for a story he could easily come up with something fresh and new.
In recent years Clem moved to the western suburbs to be closer to his son Andrew.
He’s come to trivia nights at Prince Albert Hotel with my good mate Shane Hunt… Clem would lean in grinning like he knew the answer to “What is the Capital of Turkmenistan”
What is it Clem? “I don’t know but they don’t know that and they’re all doing this”
It was about this time he met good friends Heather and Kevin Bradshaw
Clem was in his late 60s when he made the trip west and joined a ‘walking group’ with Heather, and by association her husband, Kevin
habits. With Clem, eating was a simple equation.
Meat (no chicken), mashed potatoes, peas and the famous can of coke – and a smoke if he could get away with it.
Heather is pleased to boast some minor victories, and is no doubt the first to ever witness the great man finish a can of his famous drink – albeit one of the miniature variety!
Clem was the consummate gentleman, no matter the circumstance. When he wasn’t feeling well, he would still entertain… with some fabulous stories, and never ‘blew his own trumpet’…
WHEN WE REMEMBER CLEM.
WE REMEMBER A BIG SMILE,
A BIG LAUGH,
A CAN OF COKE..
AND A GOOD MAN….HE WILL ALWAYS HAVE A PLACE IN OUR HEARTS. ”