Pat Maguire fought courageously for Brothers, on and off the football field.
A double premiership winner with Brothers in the 1960s, Maguire was president in the 1990s when the club faced enormous challenges just to survive after being turfed out of its spiritual home at Corbett Park, Grange.
Although Maguire had a stint with South Sydney when work took him to New South Wales, he was a Brothers' man to the core, and a stalwart of the statewide Confraternity of Brothers Clubs.
Maguire also was a Life Member of the Queensland Independent Secondary Schools Rugby League. His son, Scott, a star in the Queensland Cup in the 1990s, is head of sport at Padua College.
As a player Pat was at the peak of his powers in the late 1960s as a dashing winger for a star studded Brothers' team which relished the style of football played under the new four tackle rule which replaced unlimited tackle football.
Norths had dominated the early part of the 1960s winning six premierships in seven years. In 1967 Brothers finished third in the minor premiership and then beat Easts and minor premiers Valleys on the way to the Grand Final where they defeated Norths 6-2 in a try-less match.
Brothers were minor premiers and major premiers in 1968, beating Easts in a free flowing Grand Final with Maguire scoring the final try in a 21-4 win.
Maguire showed amazing pace in steaking away from the cover after brilliant lead-up work by Reg Cannon and Dennis Manteit.
Those Brothers sides of '67 and '68 were among the finest club outfits in Australia, boasting internationals Peter Gallagher, Johnny Gleeson, Dennis Manteit and Noel Cavanagh as well as a host of Queensland and Brisbane representative players, among them Cannon, Wayne Abdy, Eric Gelling, Barry 'Tubby' Dowling and John Bourke.
The coach was Brian Davies, a former captain-coach of Australia.
Maguire returned to Brothers playing ranks after his stint in Sydney, but a broken arm suffered in a match against Redcliffe ruled him out of the club's finals campaign in 1974, when they went all the way to the Grand Final, only to be beaten by Valleys in a try-less affair.
Instead of signalling the start of a new golden era, Brothers' win in the 1987 Grand Final was followed by recriminations and despair, with the club declared bankrupt, its leagues club shut down and the footballers forced to become nomads. In coming years Brothers played out of Crosby Park (sharing with Brothers Rugby), Bray Park, Perry Park and O'Callaghan Park.
As president during much of that challenging time Maguire fought tooth and nail to keep the club alive, even aligning with Valleys for their last season - 2004. That was the end of Brothers at State level, but the juniors are still going strong.
Maguire retained his links with the game through the Men of League (now Family of League) Foundation as a (volunteer) welfare officer, even though he was battling ill-health.
He passed away on January 9 while playing lawn bowls at Gaythorne.
