He was 84.

Warner's wife of 58 years, Carmel, said he passed away from bleeding to the brain at Tamworth Hospital on Friday. He also had Parkinson's and prostate cancer.

"Where to start?" she said of his life. Fighting back tears, she added: "His great love was teaching young children to run."

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Carmel said the father of five's funeral would be held on Saturday. "However, this COVID is really making it very difficult for us with numbers.

"How come you've got to pick and choose who you have at your funeral? I mean, it's awful; it's absolutely awful.

"But no doubt there's a lot more families than us that have to go through this at the moment."

For more than 50 years, Warner presided over the development of countless young track and field athletes ... for free.

In the community sport domain, where so many people self-sacrifice for the greater good, the octogenarian stood out as he coached numerous athletes to national and state titles.

As word of the retired publican's death spread throughout the community, people took to social media to express their respect for a man who had mentored children for up to five days a week.

In a Facebook post, Gary Chillingworth said "an iconic little piece of Tamworth has just left us".

Cheryl Brown replied: "You're right when you say an iconic piece of Tamworth. There really are some individuals who make a difference in our community and he definitely is one. Oh dear Wally."

In December, when Warner told the Leader he had retired, he said of coaching: "It gives me extra life."

He added: "It was very hard to give it away, very hard to give it away ... Missed it heaps."

The former independent coach's mind had the will to keep going but the body did not.

"What a legacy this man of bottomless selflessness has left behind," the Leader said at the time.

"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.'"

In the same interview, Warner said he did not play favourites with athletes, and "never had one disturbance, one argument with a child in all those years".

"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."

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].'"

Warner appearing at the Leader with a six pack of beer, a thank you for a yarn the paper did on an athlete or on athletes under his care, was a reasonably common sight.

In a Facebook post on Sunday, Ricky Glass called Warner "a great man": "Loved him since he coached me in the early 70s and [loved him] all my life."

On the same comments thread, Ray Tait said: "It is not every day or for that matter a lifetime that you meet a person like Wally Warner[,] a person that put so much in to making this community a better place to live through our youth. Well done Wally, you will be missed[.] RIP mate."

"One of the best, true legend of Tamworth, RIP Wally," wrote Gary Maguire.

Warner was a gentleman, the product of a bygone era who connected so profoundly with the youth of today.

Along with Carmel and his five children, Linda, Troy, Dale, Kylie and Gavin, he has left behind 15 grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

Vale Wally Warner.

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