SPORTS commentator, teacher and singer.
These were the three things that a young Bill Sauer always dreamed of becoming after he finished high school in Mildura.
Tick, tick and tick.
After a lengthy list of accomplishments over four decades, Bill is now widely known as the voice of Sunraysia sport, a respected high school teacher and the lead singer of what he calls “Mildura’s No.1 covers band”, The Beagles.
There are many other feathers in Bill’s cap, including being a popular master of ceremonies, BC (before COVID).
But he is perhaps best known for his sports commentary on community radio station Hot FM, especially his local footy match-day calls.
In the lead-up to the Sunraysia Football Netball League season getting under way this month, Bill sat down to lunch at Stefano’s Cafe and reflect on his many years of community service in radio and sport in Victoria’s north-west.
I’d heard a whisper that he might be retiring as a teacher at the end of 2021 after working at Irymple Secondary College since the mid-1990s.
Naturally, it was the first question to cover off.
“I might have just one more lap in me, I reckon,” the 65-year-old said with a smile, indicating that stumps will soon be pulled on his teaching days.
“I don’t want to run my career out thinking, ‘What am I hanging around here for?’
“Will I miss teaching? I sure will. But once I put the cue in the rack, I won’t be thinking of doing a few days here and there of relief teaching. That’ll be it.
“I’ve really enjoyed my teaching career and I’m looking forward to having a good year of teaching with the kids, who I enjoy being around.”
Born in Mildura in 1956, the year of major local flooding, Bill has been a fixture on the local sporting scene ever since he laced up the footy boots for Mildura in the juniors.
He never reached dizzy heights in local footy, but he did play First Division cricket for Mildura West as an opener, before going to serve as a club committee member for 25 years.
Bill recalls falling in love with footy not long after starting school at Mildura West Primary when he and his siblings were ferried out to Merbein to watch the Magpies play at Kenny Park.
“That got me hooked,” he said. “I just loved going to watch the local footy.”
One of the standout memories of his childhood didn’t come on the sporting field, though.
It came in 1963 when his father Max took the family to Sacramento in the United States while he did a year’s sabbatical study away from his CSIRO job.
“I was only seven at the time but that was the year JFK got knocked over (assassinated),” Bill said.
“It was certainly an interesting time to be in the US.”
The Sauer family returned to Mildura after 12 months overseas and Bill’s teenage years were spent at Mildura High School and continuing to indulge his passion for sport.
He went on to study an arts degree at La Trobe University, but “somewhat disillusioned”, he took a break after the first year.
As fate would have it, he then met the love of his life, Helen, shortly after returning to Mildura.
He still clearly recalls how the pair met.
“She was working at Red Cliffs Library and was writing book reviews for Sunraysia Daily,” Bill said.
“I read the column – which I’ve got to say was always well written – and I saw a photo of her and she looked all right to me.
“I then bumped into her in 1976 through a mutual friend and there was a mutual attraction and we got married in 1979.”
After returning to university and graduating, Bill landed his first teaching job at Swan Hill Technical School before the couple welcomed their only child, James, in 1981.
This was about the same time as Bill started kicking goals as a broadcaster under the tutelage of John Groves, the doyen of Sunraysia sports commentary.
Bill was a fixture on 3MA and appeared on Sunraysia TV screens on the Sunday morning Football Forum program.
He read the sport for WIN TV in later years, fitting it in around his day duties as a teacher.
Over the years, Bill has been a highly sought-after MC and has even been known in recent years to don a big red suit and long white beard to entertain kids at Christmas.
He’s also been involved with local amateur theatre groups and has played half-a-dozen gigs a year over the past decade with The Beagles, which plays covers from the 1950s to the 2010s.
There’s no doubt that Bill’s been a massive part of the Sunraysia community for many years.
However, a new life in Hobart, where son James lives with his young family, beckons for Bill and Helen.
“If I end up retiring at the end of this year, we might look at heading down to Tasmania in 2022 to be closer to our son and grandson,” Bill said.
“We want to be good, more-present grandparents.
“I hope to get involved in community activities in Hobart, especially radio, as I’ve done in Mildura.”
In the meantime, there are more students to teach, local sport to call and rounds of social golf at Riverside.
Asked what his official golf handicap was, Bill quipped: “A lack of ability.
“I play with a few mates from school to end the working week – and it’s the best couple of hours of my week, even with my average game.”
In a fitting way to blow the final whistle on our interview, Bill tells me what sport in Sunraysia has meant to him and the lessons for all children who play sport.
“It’s been a big part of my life and it’s brought me a lot of happiness and friendships,” he said.
“As for the kids, they learn a lot of values playing sport.
“When they start to mix among the men and women, they get a good sense of what makes a good adult and how they behave.
“Whether it’s been in sport or teaching, I’ve always tried to be a good role model and a positive thinker – and, of course, have some fun along the way.”
