Career
Recruited from Bentleigh Football Club, he played his first match in round 11 of the 1947 season, against Melbourne, at Essendon"s home ground, Windy Hill. He went on to play 148 games for Essendon from 1947 to 1956. He played in the "drawn" 1948 Grand Final, but was not selected for the "Grand Final Replay" the following week.
He played in the losing Essendon Grand Final team in 1951.
He played in the highly talented 1952 Essendon Seconds Premiership team that beat Collingwood Seconds 7.14 (56) to 4.5 (29):
Bigelow also played in the Essendon Finals teams of 1953, which lost to Footscray 5.11 (41) to 6.13 (49), and of 1955, which lost to Geelong 7.11 (53) to 9.7 (61). He was Acting Captain of the Essendon team on three occasions in 1956.
He was a strong, tough, dogged and tenacious defender, who also played in the ruck from time to time with great success. His great strength always gave him a great advantage at the boundary throw-insurance
His last game for Essendon was in the first (1956) VFL night football series, held at the end of the 1956 home-and-away season, under floodlights, at Lake Oval, at Albert Park,
He coached the Victorian Football Association team Coburg Tigers from 1957 until 1961.
He also coached at his original club, Bentleigh, in 1963. He served on the Essendon Football Club Committee from 1964 to 1976, having also served in 1954 and 1956 (whilst still a player). Almost from the inception of Australian television (November 1956), along with Percy Beames, Thorold Merrett, Doug Heywood, and Tony Ongarello, Bigelow featured in various football shows on American Broadcasting Company Television.
He also worked for many years as a radio commentator on Melbourne"s 3LO and, later, on Melbourne"s 3AW.
