Between work calls and a Super Coach rejig last Friday, my husband wandered out to the mailbox. A speeding fine (mine, bugger.) Community update pamphlet from our local member. And an envelope hand-addressed to him. Sender details on the back. DK Lillee, Perth.
Looking like he’d had a neurological episode, Chris held it up in the kitchen: “Unless it’s a massive stitch-up, Dennis Lillee has written to me.” He was trying not to cry.
Kate Halfpenny’s husband lost his most treasured possession, a letter from Dennis Lillee he received when he was 12. Forty years later, Dennis has written to him again.
Not many of us ever get one letter from our hero, unless you count the photocopied template ones when you joined Sherbet’s fan club in the olden days. Chris has now received two from the desk of the great man.
I wrote about the first Lillee correspondence a few weeks ago. To recap, Chris wrote to Dennis in 1983: You’re my inspiration. This season I went from the U/13Cs to the As and with that trajectory it’s a matter of time before we’re sharing the new ball.
Five months later Dennis (who’d been busy at the World Cup in England) replied, sharing wisdom in perfect cord cursive: “The key to being successful in anything is never giving up.” Chris sealed the letter in a Perspex display case to show to envious mates, then lost it in a house move.
Chris never got over it. In his lost-tapes vault of hits and memories, it’s a treasure greater than the time he trampolined on Trevor Barker’s TV sports segment or when his mum brought a lion cub home from the zoo for a play.
So, given the weight of the original’s legacy, he freaked out about opening this 2023 letter. What if it was a ruse? Had I penned it in the guise of DK, a la Santa letters in parents’ familiar writing? He slit the envelope, carefully preserving the sender’s return address (yep – howzat!) Inside, a photo.
DK in the final stride of his runup during a ’72 Ashes test in England, Chris said instantly. Hair flying, ready to destroy stumps and nerves.
Time has not wearied Dennis’ cord cursive. In the special silver pen you use for engagement party invitations, he’d autographed the photo and bowled up an encouraging message. Ignoring the passage of 40 years, it cast an adult insurance manager who can’t see in the nets these days as a promising youthful firebrand.
Dennis Lillee is congratulated by his teammates after becoming the highest wicket taker in Test history. December 27, 1981. Credit: Staff photographer
“Hi Chris. Well done with your continued success since under 13s. Keep it up mate. Glad you were inspired and keep sending them down fast! Cheers, Dennis.”
I was allowed to read but not touch the photo before it was locked in the briefcase safe where we keep our funeral instructions and marriage certificate. Chris took it out a few times to check for hidden messages before deciding it was a work of art and Dennis’ largesse should be enjoyed by a wider audience. It’s now stuck to the fridge with a “You beauty” magnet until we can see if there are any worthy frames in the Myer EOFY sale.
Chris was so overcome it took him an hour to ask the big question: how and why had Lillee written to him again?
Short version: behind-the-scenes hustling by terrific good sports. Darshak Mehta, chairman of The Chappell Foundation, read my long-lost letter story and contacted Sydney Morning Herald sports editor Ian Fuge to get my address. Darshak then called Dennis, who read the story while packing to go to his family weekender. “He was tickled,” said Darshak.
And, lo, Dennis took up the pen. His humour and generosity gives me renewed faith in the world, and made not just a mad fan’s year but my list of Celebrities We Love. Compiled over decades writing entertainment, it honours stars who are nice when there’s no cameras and nothing in it for them.
Guy Pearce is longstanding mayor of that list, and Nicole Kidman, Edwina Bartholomew and Larry Emdur are on it. We’ll go into who doesn’t make the cut another day. For now, I’m busy watching Chris craft a reply to Dennis, who hopefully can read it through tear stains.
Kate Halfpenny is the founder of Bad Mother Media.
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