What were you doing 25 years ago today?

If you were a golf fan, you were probably rejoicing in Steve Elkington’s win in 1995 US PGA tournament in Los Angeles, where he beat Scot Colin Montgomerie in a play-off.

If you were a baseball fan, you were mourning the death of Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle of liver cancer in Dallas aged 63.

If you were a film fanatic, you might have been wondering what the great Alfred Hitchcock may have been working on if he was still alive on what would have been his 96^th birthday.

The ongoing OJ Simpson murder trial may have captivated some, while others would have been sad to learn that British mountaineer Alison Hargraves, the first woman to climb Mt Everest alone without bottled oxygen, had died in a storm in Pakistan aged 33.

And if you were Harold Rosewarne, a 12-game South Melbourne player in 1952-54 who in his later years became a fanatical Swans fan, you were probably enjoying a wonderful 65^th birthday.

If old Harold was really lucky he may have been celebrating his birthday at the football. Because for Swans fans it was a great day to be alive as Tony Lockett put on one of the best performances in football history.

It was Sunday August 13, 1995. The Swans played Fitzroy in Round 19 of Lockett’s first season in red and white, and the big fella put on an absolute clinic.

In his 16^th game for the Swans and his 199^th overall, Lockett kicked 16 goals. It was 16 straight from 12 marks and 18 kicks as the Swans won 27.8 (170) to 6.8 (44). He more than doubled the entire Fitzroy score on his own.

It might have been difficult for old Harold to fully comprehend such an extraordinary feat because he only kicked two goals in his entire career.

But he would have been in excellent company. No less than 1065 members of an all-time Swans playing list that now numbers 1432, or 74.4 percent, also kicked fewer career goals than Lockett did in one afternoon.

Among this group are John Rantall, a 260-game Swan of the 1960s and ‘70s, Jim Cleary, a 222-game dual club champion of 1930s and ‘40s, Craig Bolton, a 199-game 2005 premiership player, Ted Richards, a 228-game Swan and 2012 premiership player, and Nick Smith, a 211-game 2012 premiership player.

Andrew Dunkley and Rod Carter, both 217-game Swans players, kicked only 12 goals for the club between them. And current co-captain Dane Rampe has kicked only six goals in his 169 games.

The Swans were doing it tough, sitting 14^th on the 16-team 1995 ladder when coach Ron Barassi and captain Paul Kelly took them to Western Oval, the old home of Footscray, now the Western Bulldogs, to play Fitzroy.

The ground had become a temporary home for Fitzroy, at the bottom of the ladder less than 12 months away from an eventual merger with the Brisbane Bears to form the Brisbane Lions.

Despite perfect conditions, with bright sunshine and a temperature of 19 degrees, a meagre crowd of 7,426 was on hand to see a performance that warranted 10 times that. And more.

There are limited television highlights of the “Plugger Pulverization” but the ABC radio call of Tim Lane and Peter Booth, with expert comments from Peter ‘Crackers’ Keenan, is available on YouTube and is wonderful listening for Swans fans. 

Even Swans legend Bob Skilton is in the call. He’s doing ‘around the grounds’ commentary from Princes Park where Carlton, the eventual premiers, were playing an emerging Brisbane Bears side at the same time.

You can find the ABC call at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ohlgx7tQ-UE

The Swans led 8.2 to 2.2 at quarter-time. Lockett had five goals and already Lane had suggested it was “only a matter of time” before the Fanning record fell.

By halftime it was 17.4 to 2.3. Lockett had 10 and the commentators were starting to talk records. Under threat was Bob Pratt’s all-time Swans record of 15 goals, set in 1934, and the 15-goal ground record set by Footscray’s Kelvin Templeton in 1978.

Even the all-time AFL record of 18 goals set by Melbourne’s Fred Fanning in 1947 was under threat.

As Lane said in commentary, Lockett had 10 at halftime despite five minutes on the bench in the first quarter while medical staff attended to a cut head, and 10 minutes on the bench in the second quarter when coach Barassi spelled him following an extended wrestle with Fitzroy’s Mark Zanotti.

All of the available TV highlights show Zanotti, a member of the very first West Coast Eagles side in 1987 and later a Brisbane Bear, playing on Lockett his 154th and fourth-last AFL game.

But as the Swans celebrate the 25^th anniversary of Lockett’s club record Zanotti was delighted to be able to set the record straight. It wasn’t all his fault. Not even close.

“Pacman (Stephen Paxman) played on him until the 15-minute mark of the second quarter. I was centre-half forward for the first time under (coach) Bernie Quinlan and the ball didn’t come our way out of the middle once,” Zanotti said this week, having celebrated his 56^th birthday on Tuesday.

In fact, according to the radio commentary, Lockett kicked seven goals on Paxman and three on Simon Hawking to the 17-minute mark of the second quarter before Zanotti took up the task of trying to tame the 29-year-old powerhouse.

“I made the change myself because it was getting ridiculous. I went down on Plugger and gave him a couple of elbows in the chest … as you do,” Zanotti recalled.

“He got me in a headlock as they kicked another. The ball went back to the middle and Plugger was on my back. I’m face down with him on top of me and his massive arm around my neck. And there were about another six blokes on top of him trying to get him off.

“I was stuffed. I couldn’t breath and I honestly thought I was going to die. True. I was passing out. There were only two umpires back then and they were back in the middle with the ball. Jason Baldwin (Fitzroy rover) was trying to wrench his arm off me.

“Honestly, I was gone. Eventually they got him off me. I got up and just collapsed. Fortunately, ‘Barass’ took him (Lockett) off. He was too valuable to get reported.”

Lane, having earlier noted that Zanotti was targeted by the Swans, perhaps because he was the ‘spirit’ of the young Fitzroy side, remarked in second half commentary how Fitzroy and Zanotti, in particular, tightened up on Lockett.

“He (Zanotti) is not showing a great sense of history here … he’s doing everything he can to deny Lockett,” Lane quipped.

Zanotti agreed it was a good contest in the second half. “He kicked five on me, but they kept feeding him. Two were from ‘Kicketty’ (Derek Kickett) from 10-metre passes,” he said.

“I’m so happy someone will tell the proper story because I’ve copped it for years and there is no way Plugger kicked 16 on me.”

Lockett added two goals in the third quarter as the score reached 22.6 to 4.7. With ‘only’ 12 at the last change the Fanning record looked safe, but Pratt’s Swans record was still in play.

A large portion of the crowd switched ends at three-quarter time as the Swans prepared to kick with the wind to the highway end of Western Oval in the last. They wanted to be where the big fella was.

Seventy seconds into the fourth quarter Lockett had his 13^th. Having accepted a neat pass from Justin Crawford he snuck it in from 25-metres in the pocket.

The ABC crossed to Perth where Ray Walker was reporting on West Coast’s one-sided clash with Adelaide at Subiaco. It was top v bottom. Jason Ball, later to play with Sydney, was the Eagles’ leading goal-kicker in their 26.12 (177) to 5.12 (42) rout. But he kicked just four.

As the Princes Park clock ticked past nine minutes in the fourth quarter skipper Kelly kicked long to a leading Lockett. Zanotti was wearing him like a glove but the help from defence coming in from the side infringed. Free kick.

Lockett did what he always did. He put the ball on the ground and composed himself. “That must have been nearly 40 seconds … a world record,” said a chirpy Booth before Lockett converted from 40-metres on a 45-degree angle for his 14^th.

Kelly, receiving from Crawford after a string of handballs, banged one through running into an open goal and immediately apologised to Lockett, who was in position for a handpass.

Skilton, a keen listener to the main call as he reported on a Carlton-Brisbane thriller which eventually went to the Blues by 14 points, told how the Princes Park scoreboard was posting a running total of the Lockett goal feast. 

At the 20-minute mark Kickett picked out the leading Lockett and he banged it straight over the goal umpire’s head from 35 metres for his 15^th. It was a personal best for Lockett and he’d equalled the records of Pratt and Templeton.

Four minutes later Kickett ran to centre half forward. He delayed his disposal, waiting for Lockett to lead and picked him out beautifully. From 20 metres straight in front he kicked his 16^th.

Time ran out. Lockett and Zanotti immediately shook hands as two television crews ran onto the field in search of Lockett. So too did hundreds of adoring fans. It was mayhem as he slowly made his way into the rooms.

The following day the Herald Sun in Melbourne marked the occasion with a poster at newsagents across the city which read: LOCKETT 16-GOAL BLITZ.

It was a special moment, especially for old Harold Rosewarne, who passed away aged 87 on March 9, 2018.

It was almost as if Lockett knew of the devastating news that would hit the football world just four days later, when Footscray legend and captain of the AFL Team of the Century Ted Whitten passed away aged 62 from prostate cancer.

Lockett and Whitten had become close during their shared time with the Victorian State of Origin side and on 17 June, in his last interstate match, Lockett had kicked seven goals for Victoria in a win over South Australia at the MCG to receive the EJ Whitten Medal as best afield.

It was the unforgettable day “Mr Football” made his last public appearance two months before his death.

Suffering from blindness due to a stroke, Whitten was driven in a white convertible on a lap of honour around the MCG before the match, accompanied by his son and three grandchildren as the Mariah Carey song "Hero" was played on the PA system.

When presented with the medal Lockett had said: “This will probably go down as one of the happiest days of my life, and I'll treasure it forever".

Lockett would play only once more at the ground, which had been the Footscray home since they joined the then VFL in 1925. It was against Fitzroy again in 1997, by which time it had been renamed Whitten Oval. Just for good measure he kicked another nine for his old mate.

While Lockett had fallen short of the Fanning record in Round 19, 1995 he had posted the equal fourth-best single game haul in football history. The only three ahead of him were Fanning, Gordon Coventry’s 17 for Collingwood in 1930 and Jason Dunstall’s 17 for Hawthorn in 1992.

His 16-goal afternoon equalled that of Coventry in 1929 and two 1969 efforts by Peter McKenna for Collingwood and Peter Hudson for Hawthorn.

Lockett’s 16 was his 16^th double-figure haul. Remarkably, in numbers unimaginable in today’s game, he’d had two hat-tricks in 1991. He kicked 12-10-12 in his 125^th-126^th-127^th career games, and 13-10-11 in his 138^th-139^th-140^th.

He would add three more double-figure bags in 1996 and three in 1997 for a career total of 22. An all-time high. Next best is Dunstall (16), McKenna (13), Essendon’s John Coleman (12), Hudson (12), Geelong’s Gary Ablett Snr (12) and Coventry (11).

It was no surprise when, at the Brownlow Medal count six weeks later, Lockett picked up three votes. But the two votes his captain Kelly picked up for his 39 possessions and three goals in the same game were greeted with a louder roar. And were more significant.

After 18 rounds of the medal count Kelly was equal fourth with 13 votes. He was level with Geelong’s Paul Couch and behind only Geelong’s Gary Hocking (14), Essendon’s Michael Long (16) and Hawthorn’s Darren Jarman (16).

Kelly went on to poll two votes in Rounds 19, 20, 21 and 22 to finish with 21 votes and win from Jarman on 18, Hocking on 17 and a four-way tie for fourth on 16 votes between Long, Couch, St Kilda’s Robert Harvey and Richmond’s Matthew Knights (16).

Remarkably, Lockett’s club record 16 goals came six years to the day after Greg Williams’ club record 53 possessions in a 50-point win over St Kilda at the SCG on August 13, 1989.

The 1995 126-point win signaled the end of Bernie Quinlan’s coaching career. The Footscray turned Fitzroy favorite and 1981 Brownlow Medallist was sacked several days later.

Suffice to say he probably never looked again at the game statistics which showed Kelly (39), Simon Garlick (31), Daryn Cresswell (28), Kickett (28), Paul Roos (28), Crawford (22) and Lockett (21) had headed the Swans possession count. Kelly (3), Darren Kappler (3) and Crawford (2) were the other multiple goal-kickers while Creswell, Troy Gray and Garlick kicked singles.

Creswell picked up the one Brownlow vote behind Lockett (3) and Kelly (2).

Thirteen months later 13 members of the Lockett 16-goal extravaganza side played in the Swans 1996 grand final side – Mark Bayes, Wade Chapman, Cresswell, Dunkley, Garlick, Shannon Grant,, Adam Heuskes, Kelly, Kickett, Dale Lewis, Lockett, Troy Luff and Roos.