He lives on as one of the most treasured and iconic figures in Australian football, with his legacy standing as the greatest and most influential Bulldog of all time.

E.J. ‘Ted’ Whitten was loved for his outstanding ability on the field but his captivating personality captured hearts across the country.

In the 20th year since Whitten’s passing, Essendon and the Western Bulldogs will on Sunday play for the 20th annual EJ Whitten Cup.

STORY: Dogs and Bombers to play off for annual E.J. Whitten Cup.

Doug Hawkins will present the Cup to the winning team and recently reminisced on the day he overtook Whitten’s games record at the Western Bulldogs.

“I got a telegraph, back in those days you got a telegraph, from Ted Whitten… Special.

“(It said) ‘Listen son, it’s your big day next week, you deserve to be there, you get out there and you stick it up ‘em.’

“It was fantastic, it just changed everything, it changed how I felt. I believed I belonged there.”

Bulldogs captain Bob Murphy, who hopes to be the recipient of the Cup on Sunday, said the romance of the hero that was Ted Snr still lives on at the Club today.

VIDEO: Bulldogs captain reflects on E.J. Whitten’s impact on the current playing group.

“Growing up footy players to me always seemed like superheroes.

“He was a part of that golden era as well, Charlie Sutton was the hard leader and Ted was the flamboyant star.”

Whitten played a VFL record 321 games in an inspirational 20 year playing career, captain Footscray for 212 games and coaching for 228, with over 12 seasons as playing coach.

He was centre half-back in the Club’s 1954 premiership, he also coached the team to a Grand Final appearance in 1961.

Whitten was named captain of both the AFL and Bulldogs’ Teams of the Century.