Veteran commentator and journalist Mike Gibson has been remembered as the "bloke next door", a storyteller without peer and a legend of Australian sport following his death at the age of 75.
The former host of Wide World of Sports and The Back Page was found dead at his NSW Central Coast home on Wednesday morning, the Nine Network said.
Along with cricketing great Ian Chappell, Gibson was an original anchor for Wide World Of Sports when it was launched in 1981.
He later hosted The Back Page on Fox Sports for 16 years before stepping away from TV in 2012.
Nine News sports presenter and former Wide World Of Sports colleague Ken Sutcliffe said in a statement: "We are all saddened by his passing. He was a pioneer in TV sport and he did it with his inimitable and special style."
Gibson was popular with viewers and a dyed-in-the-wool sports fan who wore his heart on his sleeve.
He was parodied by the 12th Man, Billy Birmingham, in his second album, Wired World Of Sports in 1987.
Birmingham and Gibson ended up working together on The Back Page with the comedian stepping away from the show one week after 'Gibbo' quit.
"Can't believe we've lost the great Mike Gibson. A terrific journo, excellent TV presenter & an even better bloke. Rest peacefully old friend," Birmingham tweeted on his official 12th Man Page.
Nine boss David Gyngell said Gibson was viewer-friendly and was to cut through to sports, and more importantly non-sports, fans with his delivery and his "bloke next door" style.
"Mike was a proud, passionate member of our sports team when it all began back in the 1980s," Gyngell said in a statement.
"In a real sense, he revolutionised the role of the sports anchor. Mike was everyman. The bloke next door who was so readily welcomed into peoples lounge rooms."
"As a story-teller, Mike Gibson had no peer," the Nine Network's head of sport, Steve Crawley, told AAP in a statement.
"The people he wrote about, you felt you suddenly knew and he had this knack of making you feel part of his stories."
Others have turned to social media to express their grief, and the hashtag #RIPGibbo began trending soon after news of Gibson's death broke.
"A truly wonderful writer and storyteller and a source of huge encouragement to young journalists like me," News Corp Australia soccer writer Ray Gatt wrote.
In a farewell interview with Fox Sports in 2012, Gibson said he missed one show in 16 years, because of a "crook back, and took pride in being recognised in a shop or a pub for that matter.
"What I love about the show (The Back Page) is that it is one of the few sports shows in the country that covers all sports," he said.
"People have come up to me in restaurants and coffee shops and told me The Back Page is part of their life, part of their weekly routine, which is a great compliment."
The cause of his death has not been released.
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