| Lawrence Morgan | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal information | |||
| Full name | Lawrence Robert Morgan | ||
| Born | 5 February 1915 | ||
| Died | 15 August 1997(1997-08-15) (aged 82) | ||
| Original team | Yarrawonga[1] | ||
| Height | 183 cm (6 ft 0 in) | ||
| Weight | 84 kg (185 lb) | ||
| Playing career1 | |||
| Years | Club | Games (Goals) | |
| 1937–39 | Fitzroy | 34 (14) | |
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1939. | |||
| Sources:AFL Tables,AustralianFootball.com | |||
| Olympic medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Equestrian | ||
 | 1960 Rome | Eventing |
| 1960 Rome | Team eventing |
Lawrence Robert Morgan (5 February 1915 – 15 August 1997) was an Australian sportsman who is the only person to playVFL/AFL football and win an Olympic gold medal.[2] He played hisAustralian rules football withFitzroy during the late 1930s and won two gold medals inequestrian at the1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.[3]
Morgan was born in the country and, as a child, raced horses over tree branches with his friend, fellow Olympic equestrian competitorBill Roycroft.[4] When he came to Fitzroy in 1937 he played in the same side as the greatHaydn Bunton. He spent two further seasons at Fitzroy, both under coachGordon Rattray, before leaving.
Morgan returned to the sporting scene in 1960, at the age of 45, when he competed for the Australian equestrian team at the Rome Olympics. Riding his horse 'Salad Days', Morgan won the Gold Medal ahead of countrymanNeale Lavis in the Individual Three-Day Event to become the first Australian to win an equestrian gold medal. The former VFL player then teamed up with Lavis and Bill Roycroft to win Gold in the Team Event, best remembered for Roycroft's heroics in riding despite suffering concussion and severe injuries from a previous fall.
Although the Australian Olympic team consisted of big names likeHerb Elliott,Dawn Fraser andMurray Rose, Morgan was the only dual gold medalist.
Morgan's biography, entitledToo Tough To Lose, was completed by his son Warwick Morgan, himself an accomplished horseman, and published in 2012 by Forty Degrees South Publishing (see External Links).
In September 1937,The Argus selected Morgan in its team of 1937's first-year players.[5]
| Best First-Year Players (1937) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Backs | Bernie Treweek (Fitzroy) | Reg Henderson (Richmond) | Lawrence Morgan (Fitzroy) |
| H/Backs | Gordon Waters (Hawthorn) | Bill Cahill (Essendon) | Eddie Morcom (North Melbourne) |
| Centre Line | Ted Buckley (Melbourne) | George Bates (Richmond) | Jack Kelly (St Kilda) |
| H/Forwards | Col Williamson (St Kilda) | Ray Watts (Essendon) | Don Dilks (Footscray) |
| Forwards | Lou Sleeth (Richmond) | Sel Murray (North Melbourne) | Charlie Pierce (Hawthorn) |
| Rucks/Rover | Reg Garvin (St Kilda) | Sandy Patterson (South Melbourne) | Des Fothergill (Collingwood) |
| Second Ruck | Lawrence Morgan | Col Williamson | Lou Sleeth |
| International | |
|---|---|
| People | |
