Rex James Hunt was born on 7 March 1949 at Mentone Victoria, Australia .
He grew up in the neighbouring suburb Parkdale with his parents Ivy and Edgar (Bill) and older brother Bill.
Rex quickly developed a love of the sea and was actively fishing from the age of seven from the Mentone, and then Mordialloc Pier.
His first catch was a small garfish from the Mentone pier in late 1956.
Rex was a slow starter when it came to football and cricket. He recalls often being the last picked for the side. However, at 16 years of age Rex had grown quite tall (6feet 4 inches) and realised that his strength and height could be used to his advantage.
After very swift development Rex made the senior team at Richmond in 1968.
He amassed 202 senior VFL games with Richmond, Geelong and St Kilda, and played in two Premierships with Richmond, 1969 and 1973.
He twice headed the goal-kicking list at Richmond and was runner up to the Club Champion at each of his three clubs.
He finished 4th in the 1974 Brownlow Medal.
After a year off in 1979, Rex played 36 games with Sandringham in the VFA.
He kicked a total of 203 goals including 10 in his last game.
He won the VFA leading goal kicker in 1981 with 110 goals. When Rex retired from football, he pursued a career in both fishing and football broadcasting.
He started in football broadcasting career in 1979 at Radio 3AW, crossing to 3DB until 1988 and then returning to his beloved 3AW in 1989. It is legend that Rex was often in the outer at the night football "practising" his very unique style, hoping that someone would notice him.
The Rex Hunt Fishing radio show started at 3DB in 1982. It continues today on Radio 3AW in Melbourne.
In 1992 Rex started up a fishing television show called Rex Hunt's Fishing World, screened on Channel Seven in Melbourne. The late nighttime slot soon proved popular and the show was moved to early evenings on a Saturday and then shown nationally where it screened for 13 years. Rex filmed his final episode of Rex Hunt Fishing Adventures in late 2004. In addition the program has been screened in over 150 countries throughout the world. |