Don Grossman

Donald Clarence Grossman (27 December 1920 – 5 August 2004) was an Australian rules footballer who played with South Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL).

Don Grossman
Personal information
Full name Donald Clarence Grossman[1]
Date of birth 27 December 1920
Place of birth Brunswick, Victoria
Date of death 5 August 2004(2004-08-05) (aged 83)[2]
Place of death Warrnambool
Original team(s) Port Melbourne
Height 182 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Weight 80 kg (176 lb)
Position(s) Ruckman
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1940–1947 South Melbourne 93 (32)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1947.
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

A Port Melbourne recruit, Grossman started his VFL career in 1940. He didn't play at all in 1943 due to his Royal Australian Air Force commitments. He appeared in all 22 games for South Melbourne in 1945 and featured prominently in the "Bloodbath Grand Final", where Carlton defeated South Melbourne in a spiteful encounter.[3] Starting in the back pocket, Grossman, who would later be an amateur boxer, played as a ruckman and was reported for striking Carlton's Jim Mooring. He was found guilty and missed the opening eight rounds of the 1946 VFL season through suspension.[4]

Grossman left South Melbourne in 1948 to take up an offer to captain-coach Warrnambool. He remained in that position for six years before switching to South Warrnambool in 1954 and coaching them to a premiership in his first year. In 1951, while at Warrnambool, he won the Hampden Football League's best and fairest award.[5]


Grossman remain in Warrnambool for the rest of his life. He was a contributor to the local newspaper on football related matters and was editing the history of the Warrnambool Football club when he died.

Books
  • Evergreen Hampden :Fred R. Bond & Don Grossman 1979, ISBN 9780868251080
  • Birth of the Blues ISBN 9780959271539

References
  1. "WW2 Nominal Roll". Government of Australia.
  2. Obituary in the Herald Sun, 7 August 2004
  3. AFL Tables: Don Grossman
  4. Holmesby, Russell; Main, Jim (2007). The Encyclopedia Of AFL Footballers. BAS Publishing. ISBN 978-1-920910-78-5.
  5. Camperdown Chronicle ,"Don Grossman Wins Maskell Cup", 21 August 1951, p. 2


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