 Ever conscious of safeguarding his hands to work the strings of the bass violin, he once told North Melbourne's Fred Fairweather, "Hit me as hard as you like, but don't hurt my fingers".World War II military service cost Curcio a place in Fitzroy's 1944 premiership team and three broken fingers sustained in a services match in 1945, effectively ended his musical career.Curcio played his best football in an era when Fitzroy's best and fairest records were either lost on not kept, arguably robbing him of an opportunity to be recorded and remembered as a great player in the record books.