One of the nine children of the vigneron Daniel King (1827-1903),[2] and Ellen King (1844-1923), née Slattery,[3] John King was born at Rutherglen, Victoria on 15 January 1879.
King played an incredible 26 years of senior football in the Ovens and Murray Football League, playing in 11 premierships with Rutherglen and was inducted into the O&MFL – Hall of Fame in 2008.[4]
Professional athlete
Sprinter
Starting off an official handicap of 13 yards, he was a finalist in the 1907 Stawell Gift. With the field on their marks, he broke twice and was penalized another two yards. He came fourth.[5]
Coach
King, who "had a cinders track [on his Rutherglen farm] that replicated the exact gradient of the rise at Stawell",[6] become a four-time Stawell Gift winning athletic coach: his younger brother, Chris King (1908), Clarrie Hearn (1929), Frank Bradley (1937), and Jack Hayes (1954).[7] He also "helped" the 1952 winner, Lance Mann;[8] and, later, convinced dual Stawell Gift winner (1966 and 1967) Bill Howard to take up professional running in 1964.[9]
Stawell Gift's Hall of Fame
King was inducted into the Stawell Gift – Hall of Fame.[10]
Notes
^Holmesby, Russell; Main, Jim (2014). The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers: every AFL/VFL player since 1897 (10th ed.). Seaford, Victoria: BAS Publishing. p. 481. ISBN978-1-921496-32-5.
