Geelong coach Chris Scott
"It's a horribly difficult situation for everyone at the club. Bob Davis was a legend of the club and it's all the more disappointing for me that I never got to spend much time with him. Everyone speaks really highly of not only his involvement and contribution to the club as a player and coach, but of the time he spent at the club when his official duties had ended. It's just a really sad day.
"It's actually hit the players reasonably hard. Bob spent a lot of time at the club ... and got to know the players quite well on a personal level.I'm really loathe to say that it will change the way the players play this week, but it will be in all Geelong people's minds for this week and weeks to come. I didn't know Bob personally, and I feel sadder for that, but Bob Davis is synonymous with Geelong."
Fred Wooller, 1963 Geelong premiership captain
"Bob was one of the first people who looked after me when I got to the club in 1956. I was just a 17-year-old kid but to play alongside the great Bob Davis was an absolute honour.
"By the late 1950s, we started to slump a bit and we finished last in 1958 and down near the bottom (10th) in 1959. But when Bob came in as coach (in 1960), he turned the place upside down trying to find recruits and I don't think he gets enough credit for his ability to attract players.
"You look at the 1963 premiership team - together with (former secretary) Leo O'Brien, Bob recruited 13 of the 20 players. And we're talking about great names like (Polly) Farmer, (Doug) Wade, (Roy) West, (Peter) Walker, (John) Sharrock) and the Lord twins (Alistair and Stewart). Bob got us from wooden spooners in 1958 to premiers just five years later. It's a very sad day for our club and the game."
John 'Sam' Newman, former Geelong star and media personality
"Bob had the presence of mind to come out to Geelong Grammar in 1963 and asked if I wanted to have a crack at trying to play for Geelong ... the rest, as they say, is history, so much so that we both ended up in the Team of the Century for that great club.
"Bob has helped make me what I am today. He was just a wonderful human being. The greatest accolade I could give Bob is that he was stickler for the spirit of the game. He hated any illegal tactics. He coached hard, but fairly, and I think he imparted that on most of the people who played under him.
"He got people to play for him at that club not in spite of him. He loved the game and he loved Geelong. He was a modest man and he never tried to be anyone other than himself."
Gordon Bennett (veteran Channel Seven producer who worked with Davis on World of Sport and League Teams)
"It is a very sad time because he was a terrific bloke. I worked with him for about 25 years and we still remained very friendly right until this time. We always found him just a kind gentleman and somebody who put in 100 per cent for World of Sport and the station's sporting programs.
"One of the best memories that I've got is that in the World of Sport studio. He was the noisiest of all having a chat to everyone and organising what he was going to do at the top of his voice. As the producer, I used to go up to him and say 'Bob, shush'. From then on, he called me 'Captain Shushes'.
"I used to be in charge of League Teams, (but) you can't really be in charge of something that just goes its own way when the three of them got together. Everything that was talked about beforehand was out the door and they went their own merry way and that was the success of the program. They did it their way. The three of them were a great combination.
"One of my best memories with him in the later years after World of Sport finished was sitting next to him on Grand Final day in 2007 when Geelong won. We sat together all through the match and from my point of view it was such a privilege to be with Bobby, who was such a strong part of the Geelong scene."
Geelong captain Cameron Ling
"Very sad to hear about Bobby. He is obviously a legend of the club and really well known among all the boys here. We found out this morning from [football manager] Neil Balme in the team meeting and I think it had a real impact on a lot of the guys who've met him, have seen him around the club, and are well aware of all the things he has done for the Geelong footy club.
"I remember growing up knowing of Bobby Davis and hearing stories about him from my dad, who was a passionate Geelong supporter. I knew that he coached the last premiership [before I got to the club]. It's a really sad day for the footy club. There's a number of legends of Geelong who've had a huge impact, and Bobby's certainly one of those. He will be missed by all people at the footy club.
"[Winning the 2009 premiership] was an amazing moment anyway, but to be able to have Bobby up there [to present the cup] and share it with him was great. Tom Harley was fantastic in that he didn't want it to be just him up there holding the cup aloft. He wanted all the players up there with him straight away. To have Bobby on the stage presenting the cup, and to be able to soak in that moment in front of 100,000 people, it was pretty special for the entire footy club."
Geelong defender Andrew Mackie
"To be able to wear his number four guernsey week in week out is just an absolute honour. When I rocked up to the club and met Bobby and was given his jumper I knew he'd been a legend of the footy club and of the AFL. It's not only what he was able to do in football. Bob as a person was very charismatic, very easy to talk to. Bobby was always good for a story."
Geelong midfielder Travis Varcoe
"He was a very significant part of the history of Geelong, so our condolences go out from all the boys to his family. It's a tough time for them.
"I used to see him around the club a fair bit and he was a great old character. I didn't know him that well personally, but from what I saw of him around the place he was a chirpy fella and he brought a smile to a lot of people's faces with his personality."
