GEOF MOTLEY will be farewelled on Monday. The memories of his grand story in Australian football will be vivid through the funeral service at Alberton Oval on Monday - and never forgotten, living forever in halls of fame at club, state and nationally.

Motley's reputation in football, from the moment he stepped off the fields at Woodville High School to become a colt at Port Adelaide in 1951 is to perpetually shine by its elite status.

His success in business - that will bring more than football aficionados to Alberton on Monday morning - leaves a legacy built on honesty, high principle and decency.

The football legacy lives beyond Alberton too. Motley is mourned at North Adelaide where he was the senior coach after his retirement as a player at Port Adelaide in 1966; in State ranks for his service as a player, selector and team manager; and across the AFL where he guided many players as an agent and valued confidant.

To the Port Adelaide fans who will once again gather at Alberton to salute "Mots", there are the "heroic" moments on the field while Motley was the ultimate lieutenant to Fos Williams.

Motley (far right) was a valued deputy of Fos Williams (right).

And there is a rarely recalled story that tells of Motley as a real hero - in the true sense of the tribute that is thrown around too easily in football speak.

By 2019, as Motley was stoically adjusting to his failing eyesight, he made his own trip down to memory lane to be back at Grange beach in the late summer of 1956.

Sunday at Grange beach had become part of Motley's weekly routine, after he had "refreshed" his marathon swimming capacity across Lincoln Gap between the steep hills at the north-east corner of Eyre Peninsula. Sunday after Sunday he would take to the water with Port Adelaide team-mates Basil Jaggard and Colin Parham. It was his ritual.

The last weekend of January 1956 put Motley on the front pages of Adelaide's newspapers for heroics that superseded all his acts on the football field in 250 SANFL league games with Port Adelaide.

This time, on a Monday, he was at Grange beach swimming by the jetty with club-mates, B-grade players Brian Johnson and Barry Wilson who later became a critical administrator serving on Port Adelaide's inaugural AFL board of directors.

The headline from the ensuing events from that swim read: BOY'S RESCUER WAS FOOTBALL STAR

The boy was seven years old then. He was drowning.

 "After handing Dennis Hannon, of Pembroke street, Kensington Park, over to Grange lifesavers, Motley went away without giving his name," the newspapers recorded.

This says so much of Motley.

When the newshounds eventually found Motley at the sports department of his work place at Currie Street, he was still reluctant to be known as the hero. None of his work colleagues knew of the heroic act until the newspaper photographers arrived that afternoon to reunite Motley and Hannon for a page-one shot, after which Motley went to Norwood Oval to help the Adelaide Children's Hospital and what is today Novita with a sports charity event.

Amid persistent questioning from the Fourth Estate, Motley eventually recalled how "I was swimming on the north side of the jetty.

"Suddenly," he added, "about 30 yards away, I saw the boy floating face downwards.

"I swam over and grabbed him.

"Then I raced out of the water with him and handed him to the lifesavers. He must have been in the water for a fair while. I think he'd floated from the other side of the jetty to where I had spotted him."

Motley leads his troops onto the field.

In 2019, Motley was eager to be reunited with Dennis Hannon.

"Sadly," says Motley's daughter, Wanita, "we couldn't locate him."

After 63 years it was to be a challenging search. 

Motley had not forgotten. And his 88 years will not be forgotten after the Port Adelaide family pays its last respects at Monday's funeral service.

Motley today at Alberton will be remembered for a lifetime in football. His father Arthur was captain of Port Adelaide's B-grade team - and captain-coach of the Semaphore Central unit in the amateurs. It took an hour for Bob McLean, as Port Adelaide club secretary, to convince Arthur that Geof was ready for his league debut - at centre half-forward against North Adelaide at Prospect Oval in 1953.

The first impression of the strong-legged lad in the No.17 jumper was as powerful as his spirit. The Port Adelaide faithful immediately thought of Tommy Quinn, brother of club great Bob and the rover who on leaving Port Adelaide to work at Ford's became a legend in the VFL with Geelong.

Motley's legacy at Port Adelaide extended far beyond his remarkable impact on the field.

Geof Motley rose from the colts - where he was captain - to the league side bypassing the Bs. He never played in the reserves. He was never dropped from the league line-up. By the time the battle scars included a serious knee injury, Motley had achieved more than any other Port Adelaide player (or any SANFL rival at the time) with nine league premierships (1954-1959, 1962, 1963 and 1965). The 1959 triumph - following Fos Williams to the captain-coach role - was the most significant in completing the six-in-a-row triumph that marked Port Adelaide's Golden Era of the 1950s and 1960s.

The 1964 Magarey Medal pays tribute to a tough footballer who was never reported during his 15-season league career.

The acknowledgement of the Victorian selectors in choosing Motley as the best South Australian player in the rare success against the Big V on the MCG in 1963 tells of Motley's power outside the black-and-white jumper and in the State's red guernsey. 

Motley was a hero. And not just in football.

The service will begin at 11.30am and will also be live streamed for those unable to attend.