Having officially hung up his headset in 2016, Cometti is far from forgotten among the Australian community.
Just last month, the 69-year-old Perthian was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for “significant services to the broadcast media and to the community”, including his volunteer work for diabetes research and the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research.
“It was a thrill and certainly a recognition for my family, friends and the people who worked hard with me... when I look back, there were a lot of those,” Cometti said in an interview with Il Globo.
The honour is just one of myriad accolades Cometti has received as a result of his media career, which spanned around five decades and saw him commentate 16 AFL grand finals and three Olympic Games, and work as a broadcaster across the ABC, Seven Network and Nine Network.
Cometti is renowned for his dulcet voice, eloquent speech and remarkably quick wit.
Many Cometti-isms, such as “centimetre perfect” and “that’s ambitious” are widely used today by footy fans young and old.
Despite being a household name, Cometti is as modest as they come.
When asked if he ever dreamed of becoming such a celebrated public figure, he responded with a soft chuckle: “Never. I still don’t consider myself that now.”
So who is the man behind the microphone and how did he end up becoming an Australian icon?
Born in the coastal city of Geraldton, Cometti is the grandson of an Italian migrant named Giovanni (Jack) Cometti.
Giovanni hailed from the tiny village of Baruffini, which is nestled in the mountains above Tirano, in the Italian Alps.
At 20 years old, Giovanni migrated to Australia and walked a staggering 1200 kilometres from Perth in the hope of finding fortune in the Meekatharra goldfields.
He soon met and married a fellow Italian migrant, Giovanna Maria Della Vedova, and they had three children on the goldfields, including Dennis’ father, James.
When Giovanni was abandoned by his wife, he continued to work tirelessly in the brutal conditions of the goldfields to provide for his children.
In 2016, Cometti featured on the SBS series Who Do You Think You Are?, in which he travelled to northern Italy to retrace his grandfather’s footsteps and discover more about his Italian heritage.
“When I first went to Baruffini I felt a sense of curiosity,” he recalled.
“It was a far cry from my experience in life.”
The program was filmed between two AFL matches, so Cometti rushed in and out of Italy and got to spend very little time with his long-lost Italian relatives, who included his second cousins.
Once the filming had wrapped up, Cometti and his wife Velia – who migrated to Australia from the Sicilian city of Messina as a toddler – wanted to take a proper trip to Tirano and spend more time with the family.
And so they did.
“We had a wonderful time and my relatives showed us every nook and cranny of the area,” he said.
Perhaps it was his Italian heritage which gave Cometti the gift of the gab... a trait which would destine him for a career in limelight.
An avid music lover from way back, Cometti had just one thing on his mind when he commenced his media career as radio announcer in 1968.
“I just wanted to play Top 40 records back then,” he said.
“I still download a lot of pop music of the day and play it in the car.”
A young Cometti blasted the beats of The Rolling Stones and The Beatles, along with The Four Seasons and The Beach Boys.
“It was a time when television was supposed to kill radio, but radio fought back extremely strongly because of those groups,” he said.
Despite Cometti’s passion for music, it wasn’t long before he moved on from being a disc jockey, mainly because “there was no job security playing rock ’n’ roll music”.
Cometti travelled to Melbourne for the first time in 1970, on the hunt for a job.
The following year, he broadcast his first his first football match – a state game between Western Australia and Victoria at Subiaco Oval.
One thing led to the next, and before long, Cometti was the go-to guy when it came to commentating sports.
A tribute to Dennis Cometti put together by Seven Network and shown during the 2016 AFL Grand Final
Despite being in high demand in the eastern Australian states, where much of his work was based, Cometti never moved away from his hometown of Perth.
This meant a great deal of commuting during the week, and a lot of time away from his wife and their children, Ricki and Mark.
“They’re the real heroes in this and I think the award is recognition of what they went through because it wasn’t easy,” Cometti said.
“The kids came through unscathed because Velia did a terrific job in my absence.
“Our children are outstanding people and I think she has to take credit for that.”
While Cometti always loved his job, he wasn’t as fond of the lifestyle that came with it.
In fact, the constant travel was one of the main reasons he decided to retire in late 2016.
While Cometti still does “bits and pieces” for Seven Network and calls local matches for Triple M, he now travels for pleasure rather than work.
He and Velia enjoyed a trip to Europe last year, returning to Italy and spending some time in the Spanish capital of Madrid.
“I’d have to say Madrid is my favourite city in the world,” he declared.
Enjoying a well-deserved rest after decades of dedication to Australian sport, Cometti said his life in the media spotlight now seems “like a lifetime away”.
“It’s funny... within 24 hours of retiring, you’re irrelevant,” he laughed.
As much as Cometti may believe that, it’s far from the truth.
After all, irrelevant people don’t wear an AM at the end of their name.
