| John Kennedy Sr. | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Kennedy pictured for a series of collectible cards in the 1950s | |||
| Personal information | |||
| Full name | John James Kennedy Sr. | ||
| Nickname | Kanga | ||
| Born | (1928-12-29)29 December 1928 Camberwell, Victoria | ||
| Died | 24 June 2020(2020-06-24) (aged 91) | ||
| Height | 188 cm (6 ft 2 in) | ||
| Weight | 89 kg (196 lb) | ||
| Playing career1 | |||
| Years | Club | Games (Goals) | |
| 1950–1959 | Hawthorn | 164 (29) | |
| Coaching career3 | |||
| Years | Club | Games (W–L–D) | |
| 1957 | Hawthorn | 1 (0–1–0) | |
| 1960–1963 | Hawthorn | 77 (46–30–1) | |
| 1967–1976 | Hawthorn | 221 (135–85–1) | |
| 1985–1989 | North Melbourne | 113 (55–55–3) | |
| Total | 412 (236–171–5) | ||
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1959. 3 Coaching statistics correct as of 1989. | |||
| Career highlights | |||
Playing
Coaching
Hall of Fame
| |||
| Sources:AFL Tables,AustralianFootball.com | |||
John James Kennedy Sr. (29 December 1928 – 24 June 2020) was anAustralian rules footballer who played for theHawthorn Football Club and coached Hawthorn and theNorth Melbourne Football Club in theVictorian Football League (VFL). He coached Hawthorn to premierships in 1961, 1971, and 1976.
Kennedy was born inCamberwell, Victoria, on 29 December 1928. In 1950, he joined theHawthorn Football Club as aruckman. Over the next ten years, he played 164 games for Hawthorn, winning the club's Best and Fairest award four times (in 1950–1952, and 1954) and serving as captain from 1955 until his retirement in 1959.[1]
Kennedy received a rushed introduction to coaching in1957 when regular coachJack Hale was involved in a vehicle accident on the way toGlenferrie Oval and missed the Round 11 match.[2]
He took over permanently as Hawthorn coach forthe 1960 season and led the team to their first premiership in 1961. Following aGrand Final defeat to Geelong in 1963, he was forced to step down as coach when the Victorian Education Department offered him a job as a school principal inStawell.[3] Hawthorn's poor on-field performance over the next few years saw him recalled to the rolein 1967. He coached Hawthorn to premierships in 1971 and 1976 and a Grand Final loss in 1975. He stepped down as coach again in 1976, in all coaching Hawthorn to three premierships from five Grand Finals.[1]
In 1985, Kennedy became the coach of theNorth Melbourne Football Club, and coached the club until1989; his best result with North Melbourne was fourth in 1985. In total he coached for 412 games, winning 236, losing 171, and drawing five.[1]
| Legend | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | Wins | L | Losses | D | Draws | W% | Winning percentage | LP | Ladder position | LT | League teams | ||
| Season | Team | Games | W | L | D | W % | LP | LT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1957 | Hawthorn | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.0% | N/a | 12 |
| 1960 | Hawthorn | 18 | 11 | 7 | 0 | 61.1% | 5 | 12 |
| 1961# | Hawthorn | 20 | 16 | 4 | 0 | 80.0% | 1 | 12 |
| 1962 | Hawthorn | 18 | 5 | 13 | 0 | 38.5% | 9 | 12 |
| 1963 | Hawthorn | 21 | 14 | 6 | 1 | 70.0% | 1 | 12 |
| 1967 | Hawthorn | 18 | 5 | 13 | 0 | 38.5% | 10 | 12 |
| 1968 | Hawthorn | 20 | 9 | 10 | 1 | 45.0% | 6 | 12 |
| 1969 | Hawthorn | 20 | 13 | 7 | 0 | 65.0% | 5 | 12 |
| 1970 | Hawthorn | 22 | 10 | 12 | 0 | 45.5% | 8 | 12 |
| 1971# | Hawthorn | 24 | 21 | 3 | 0 | 87.5% | 1 | 12 |
| 1972 | Hawthorn | 22 | 13 | 9 | 0 | 59.1% | 6 | 12 |
| 1973 | Hawthorn | 22 | 11 | 11 | 0 | 50.0% | 7 | 12 |
| 1974 | Hawthorn | 25 | 16 | 9 | 0 | 64.0% | 3 | 12 |
| 1975 | Hawthorn | 24 | 18 | 6 | 0 | 75.0% | 1 | 12 |
| 1976# | Hawthorn | 25 | 19 | 6 | 0 | 76.0% | 2 | 12 |
| 1985 | North Melbourne | 24 | 14 | 9 | 1 | 58.3% | 5 | 12 |
| 1986 | North Melbourne | 22 | 12 | 10 | 0 | 54.5% | 7 | 12 |
| 1987 | North Melbourne | 23 | 13 | 9 | 1 | 56.5% | 4 | 14 |
| 1988 | North Melbourne | 22 | 7 | 14 | 1 | 31.8% | 11 | 14 |
| 1989 | North Melbourne | 22 | 9 | 13 | 0 | 40.9% | 9 | 14 |
| Career totals | 412 | 236 | 171 | 5 | 57.3% | |||
Individual
Team
Individual
As a player, Kennedy was renowned for his toughness and skill. As a coach, he had a similar reputation for toughness but also fororatory. He was notorious for borrowing ideas from any source he thought would inspire the players, but it was his passion rather than his quotations that he was best known for. In the1975 VFL Grand Final against North Melbourne, his exhortation to the Hawthorn players at half-time was: "At leastdo something!Do! Don't think, Mick! Don't hope;do! At least you can come off and say, 'I did this, I shepherded, I played on. At least I did something.'" Despite this, his team still lost convincingly.[4]
He was famous for his battered brown overcoat, which is now on display at the Hawthorn Football Club.[5]
He was an inaugural inductee into theAustralian Football Hall of Fame and was inducted into theSport Australia Hall of Fame in 1999.[6]
His sonJohn Kennedy Jr., also played for the Hawks, playing eight matches against Kangaroo teams coached by his father. Kennedy's grandsonJosh Kennedy was recruited byHawthorn under thefather/son rule in the2006 AFL draft,[1] but played most of his career with theSydney Swans.
On 1 June 2020, John Kennedy Sr. became the 29th legend of theAustralian Football Hall of Fame.[7] AFL Commission Chairman Richard Goyder said: "In the Australian Football Hall of Fame, our Legends stand above our greats and, on behalf of the selectors, it is my great honour to declare John Kennedy was elected as a Legend, recognising his six-decade contribution to our game."[8]
TheKennedy Community Centre, Hawthorn's new training and administrative base, is named after John Kennedy Sr.
In honour of Kennedy's 80th birthday, a statue of him overlooking the Hawthorns'Waverley Park stadium was unveiled. The statue was moved to theKennedy Community Centre in 2025. The text on the plaque reads:
Kennedy died at the age of 91, on 24 June 2020, the day before his grandsonJosh Kennedy was to play his 250th AFL game.[10][11][12]
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