| John Gerovich | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Statue of John Gerovich's famous mark over Ray French in the 1956 WAFL preliminary final | |||
| Personal information | |||
| Full name | John Michael Gerovich | ||
| Date of birth | (1938-06-23)23 June 1938 (age 86) | ||
| Place of birth | Spearwood, Western Australia | ||
| Original team(s) | Spearwood | ||
| Position(s) | Centre half forward / Full forward | ||
| Playing career1 | |||
| Years | Club | Games (Goals) | |
| 1955–1969 | South Fremantle | 221 (771) | |
| Representative team honours | |||
| Years | Team | Games (Goals) | |
| 1956–1961 | Western Australia | 20 (56) | |
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1969. | |||
| Source:AustralianFootball.com | |||
John Gerovich (born John Mateo Gerecivich, 23 June 1938[1]) is a formerAustralian rules footballer who played withSouth Fremantle in theWestern Australian National Football League (WANFL - now WAFL) during the 1950s and 1960s.[2]
Gerovich was a key-position forward, best known for high-flying marks and his prolific goalkicking. One famous mark,[3] which he took in the 1956 WANFL preliminary final overEast Fremantle's Ray French, is commemorated in a statue atFremantle Oval by local sculptorRobert Hitchcock. The statue was based on an iconic photograph of the mark,[2] taken byThe West Australian photographer Maurie Hammond and published on Wednesday, 10 October 1956.[4] The mark is also depicted in Jamie Cooper's paintingthe Game That Made Australia, commissioned by the AFL in 2008 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the sport.[5]On three occasions he was theWAFL's top goalkicker: in 1956 with 74 goals, in 1960 with 101 goals, and 1961 with 74 goals again. He also topped South Fremantle's goal-kicking tally eight times.[6] When he retired after the 1969 season he had kicked a total of 744 goals for South Fremantle.[7]
Over the course of his career, he regularly representedWestern Australia at interstate football and kicked 56 goals from his 18 representative games. Gerovich, of Croatian heritage, was anAll-Australian at the1956 Perth Carnival and played in the side which won the1961 Brisbane Carnival.
In 2004 he was one of the inaugural inductees into theWest Australian Football Hall of Fame.[8] Gerovich is also a member of theFremantle Football Hall of Legends and a centre half-forward in theFremantle Team of Legends, which was established in 2007. The trophy for each season's leading goalkicker at South Fremantle is named after him.
The most famous mark in WA football history.
