John King (15 January 1879 – 25 June 1965) was an Australian rules footballer who was recruited from the Rutherglen Football Club and played with St Kilda in the Victorian Football League (VFL).
Family One of the nine children of the vigneron Daniel King (1827–1903),Death of Mr. D. King, Sen., The Rutherglen Sun and Chiltern Valley Advertiser, (Friday, 24 July 1903), p.2. and Ellen King (1844–1923), née Slattery,Rutherglen, The Advocate, (Thursday, 22 March 1923), p.33. John King was born at Rutherglen, Victoria on 15 January 1879.
King was the older brother of James Bernard "Jim" King (1873–1929), the former South Melbourne and St. Kilda player, and of Christopher King (1883–1980), winner of the 1908 Stawell Gift.
Football King played 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.
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.Stawell Easter Gift, The Numurkah Leader, (Friday, 5 April), p.4.
Coach King, who "had a cinders track [on his Rutherglen farm] that replicated the exact gradient of the rise at Stawell",Bill Howard's Stawell Gift, 1966, The Age, 15 April 2006. 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).Stawell Gift To Hayes, Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate, (Tuesday, 20 April 1954), p.3). He also "helped" the 1952 winner, Lance Mann;Just a Veteran, THe Barrier Miner, (Saturday, 14 March 1953), p.2. and, later, convinced dual Stawell Gift winner (1966 and 1967) Bill Howard to take up professional running in 1964.
Stawell Gift's Hall of Fame King was inducted into the Stawell Gift – Hall of Fame.
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