In his playing days Campbell was both a rover and half-forward, at his peak in 1957 when he won Fitzroy's Best & Fairest award, the Mitchell Medal.
Ross Gibbs debuted for West Perth in 1979 and he later played under Campbell again at Glenelg.
Campbell's career in Adelaide got off to a bad start as Glenelg lost their first eight games of the 1983 season.
Campbell continued as Glenelg coach in 1984 with the team improving to finish a strong 3rd, but he wasn't retained at the end of the year, bringing the curtain down on a 28-year career in league football.
A natural speaker with the "gift of the gab", Campbell stayed in Adelaide and put his vast football knowledge to good use, spending the next few years as an analyst for various Adelaide based television stations covering the SANFL.