John Leslie Peck (7 August 1937 – 2 February 1993) was an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er, who played in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

(VFL).

Football

Hawthorn

John Peck, the brother of Graham Peck, played for Hawthorn from 1954 to 1966. He was the first Hawthorn player to win the leading VFL goalkicking award. Peck won the award in three successive years in 1963–65. He Kicked 78 goals in 1963, 66 goals in 1964 and 58 goals in 1965. In 1960 Peck kicked the winning goal in a match against Collingwood at Victoria Park, It was Hawthorn's first win after 35 years at that venue. Peck was the last player to win the

Coleman Medal The Coleman Medal is an Australian rules football award given annually to the Australian Football League (AFL) player who kicks the most Laws of Australian rules football#Scoring, goals in the Australian Football League#Premiership season, home- ...

from the wooden spoon winning side until

Brendan Fevola Brendan Fevola (born 20 January 1981) is a former professional Australian rules footballer and radio presenter. He played with the Carlton Football Club, Carlton and Brisbane Lions football clubs in the Australian Football League (AFL). Fevol ...

from won it in 2006. He played in the 1961 and 1963

Grand Finals Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...

Brian Sawley

In the third quarter of the interstate match between Victoria and South Australia in Adelaide on 7 July 1963, playing in the ruck, Peck knocked Norwood's Brian Sawley unconscious. A South Australian Tribunal found Peck guilty of striking, but left the penalty to be determined by the VFL — displaying controversial leniency, the VFL only suspended Peck for two weeks.

Port Melbourne

He played for Port Melbourne in the

Victorian Football Association The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

in 1967 and 1968.
/ref> Most notably during his time at Port Melbourne, Peck was reported for abusing and disputing the decisions of field umpire David Jackson in the second quarter of the controversial

1967 VFA Grand Final The 1967 VFA Division 1 Grand Final was an Australian rules football match played between the Dandenong Football Club, Dandenong Redlegs and the Port Melbourne Football Club, Port Melbourne Borough. The match was held on Sunday 24 September 1967 ...

; the incident prompted captain-coach Brian Buckley to lead the Port Melbourne team off the ground (a forfeiture was averted when club officials instructed the players to return to the field), and Peck was suspended for six matches for the incident.

Honours and achievements

Hawthorn * VFL premiership player:

1961 Events January * January 1 – Monetary reform in the Soviet Union, 1961, Monetary reform in the Soviet Union. * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and cons ...

* 2×

Minor premiership A minor premiership is the title given to the team which finishes a sporting competition first in the league standings after the regular season but prior to commencement of the finals in several Australian sports leagues. Origins The etymolo ...

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...

Individual * 3×

: 1963, 1964, 1965 * 8× Hawthorn leading goalkicker: 1956, 1958, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966 * Hawthorn captain: 1965 * Hawthorn Hall of Fame * Hawthorn life member

Death

Peck died suddenly on 2 February 1993 from a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

at the age of 55. His death was received with great sadness within the footy community, and he was buried at the Euroa Public Cemetery.

Footnotes

References

* Ross, J. (ed), ''100 Years of Australian Football 1897–1996: The Complete Story of the AFL, All the Big Stories, All the Great Pictures, All the Champions, Every AFL Season Reported'', Viking, (Ringwood), 1996.

External links

* *
Boyles Football Photos: John Peck
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peck, John Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Hawthorn Football Club players Hawthorn Football Club premiership players Coleman Medal winners Port Melbourne Football Club players 1937 births 1993 deaths VFL/AFL premiership players 20th-century Australian sportsmen