Darrell Eastlake was perhaps best known for his hyperbolic calls of the early State of Origin fixtures, however many of us are old enough to remember him as a commentator on pro surfing during its glossy, 1980s chapter.
No one could quite say, “Tommy Carroll” like big Daz and as one of the enshrined front-men for channel nine’s Wide World of Sports, Eastlake helped to make pro surfers house-hold names in an era when the sport didn’t necessarily have too many mainstream supporters.
Eastlake’s early surf-related ventures are well documented. After growing up in Bondi in the 40s and 50s, when it was a working-class, beachside suburb, he gravitated south to the ‘Coal Coast’, near Wollongong. No doubt aware that he had been blessed with the gift of the gab, and eager to capitalise on a rapidly expanding Australian surf culture, Eastlake opened a surf shop that soon became a hub for many of the south coast’s best surfers.
By the late 70s Darrell had secured a gig as a radio host on the Gold Coast’s 4GG, then considered the racy station that was capturing the zeitgeist of Queensland’s coastal youth.
At the time, Dick Hoole and Jack McCoy were young surf-film makers trying to produce their movie, Tubular Swells, on a tight budget. Hoole remembers Eastlake as someone well connected to the rapidly evolving Gold Coast surf scene. More importantly he recalls it was Eastlake who generously gave them access to the state of the art 4GG studios, so they could record the voice-overs for their surf films.
“He was a unique talent, one of a kind,” recalls Hoole, who is very much a living legend in his own right.
“He was a big man and it’s a big space to fill,” continued Hoole.
Darrell Eastlake, who died yesterday aged 75, will be remembered as one of the defining voices of Australia. There seems no doubt that Big Darrell from Bondi also did his bit for surfing.
