That was Wally Warner's terse but evocative response when describing what coaching athletics for 50-plus years has meant to him.

The legendary coaching career has sadly come to an end.

After coaching countless children for free for up to five days a week, the independent mentor's mind has the will to keep going but the body hasn't.

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What a legacy this man of bottomless selflessness has left behind.

And not just because of his pursuit of athletics excellence: he undoubtedly has made many of his one-time charges better people through his deep reservoir of magnanimity and his old-school sage advice such as: "When you walk, you walk with pride, you don't saunter."

The octogenarian misses the children terribly; no doubt, they miss him too.

He mined his mind and recalled all the "wonderful families" and "absolutely adorable" children he encountered doing what was a calling.

"It was very hard to give it away, very hard to give it away ... Missed it heaps," he said.

This humble man, who coached numerous athletes to national and state titles, stands noble in the eyes of those he coached and their families.

And not just because of his ability to extract every ounce of ability from an athlete by calling on a Nullabor-like knowledge expanse; but because he also treated them with respect, and received respect in return.

"I never ever looked at the Black Caviars: if I had the best runner there and a child that's just come in wanting to learn to run, they get the same training as the best runner there."

Warner said he "never had one disturbance, one argument with a child in all those years" he coached.

Some parents would bring their children long distances to be mentored by him, and when "they wanted to know how much I charged, I said: 'I'm sorry, I don't charge nothing; a handshake and a smile [the sole requirement].'"

Coaching Abbie Peet, who has cerebral palsy, was one of the most satisfying aspects of his career.

In February, Peet became one of the youngest recipients of the Combined Independent Schools Kate Bailey Award for outstanding sportsperson with a disability. She was 11 at the time.

"The doctor said I've improved her running by 90 per cent," Warner said.