Iconic Australian sports commentator and journalist Mike Gibson has passed away this morning aged 75 at his NSW Central Coast home.

Gibson’s media career took many guises, from newspaper columnist, humourist, radio personality and face of Channel Nine’s Wide World Of Sports when it first launched in 1981.

In 1997, he began hosting The Back Page on Fox Sports and missed just one episode in 16 years and formed an enduring partnership with co-commentator Billy “12th Man” Birmingham.

Gibson retired from media and public life in 2003.