John Coleman (Australian footballer)

John Coleman
Personal information
Full name	John Douglas Coleman
Date of birth	(1928-11-23)23 November 1928
Place of birth	Port Fairy, Victoria
Date of death	5 April 1973(1973-04-05) (aged 44)
Place of death	Dromana, Victoria
Original team(s)	Hastings
Height / weight	185cm / 80kg
Position(s)	Full-forward
Playing career1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
1949–1954	Essendon	98 (537)
Coaching career
Years	Club	Games (W–L–D)
1961–1967	Essendon	134 (91–40–3)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1967.
Career highlights
2x Essendon Premiership Player: (1949, 1950) Essendon Best and Fairest: (1949) 4x VFL Leading Goal-Kicker: (1949, 1950, 1952, 1953) 6x Essendon Leading Goal-Kicker: 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954) All-Australian: (1953) 2x Essendon Preimership Coach: (1962, 1965) Essendon Team of the Century (Full-Forward) AFL Team of the Century 1996 (Full-Forward) Australian Football Hall of Fame "Legend" (1996)
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

John Douglas Coleman (23 November 1928 – 5 April 1973) was an Australian rules footballer who played for and coached Essendon in the Victorian Football League (now the Australian Football League).

Coleman ranks as one of the greatest Australian rules footballers of all time. In a relatively short playing career, Coleman has the second highest goal average in the history of the VFL/AFL, kicking 537 goals in 98 matches. He was also known for his high-flying spectacular marks, in some cases jumping cleanly over opponents. After a knee injury ended his playing career at age 25, he returned to coach Essendon to premiership success. Coleman died in 1973, at the age of 44, of sudden coronary atheroma.

He is the namesake of the Coleman Medal, awarded to the AFL player who kicks the most goals during the home and away season. In 1996 he was one of 12 inaugural Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees bestowed "Legend" status. He is the only player amongst them to play less than 100 games at senior level.

Born at Port Fairy in the Western District of Victoria to Albert Ernest Coleman (a manager) and his wife Ella Elizabeth (née Matthews), Coleman was the youngest of four siblings; his three older siblings were Lawna Ella, Thurla Margaret and Albert Edwin.

He married his Sri Lankan wife, Reine Monica Fernando, in March 1955. They had two daughters, Anne-Marie and Jennifer.

Coleman was introduced to football at Port Fairy Higher Elementary School. During the early war years, the family moved to Melbourne, where Coleman was enrolled at Ascot Vale West State School. He later attended Moonee Ponds Central School, where he became dux of the school. At the age of 12, he already played in a local under-18 Australian rules football team.

In 1943, Coleman's mother took the children to live at Hastings on the Mornington Peninsula as her husband remained in the city to look after his business. Coleman then divided his time between Melbourne, where he was a student at University High School, and Hastings, playing on Saturdays for the local football team which competed in the Mornington Peninsula League.