John Morton

An icon in the sports media industry, he is believed to have been the first journalist assigned to cover Australian football full-time in Queensland and afforded great support to the code during 40 years with the

Returning to Brisbane after the war and completing his schooling at Brisbane State High, he followed North Melbourne in the then VFL and after the war had the pleasure of meeting Kangaroos champion Allen Aylett, who later became chairman of the club and then the AFL. A self-confessed all-sports addict, he got into the newspaper game when he knocked on the door of the Telegraph and was given a job as a copy boy. He covered the 1956 Olympics, and after his return from Melbourne was given the job of full-time reporter of Australian football in late ‘56.

In 1960 he produced a Yearbook which effectively became a history of the code in Queensland after a lot of records were lost or destroyed during the 1950’s. He covered the 1961 interstate carnival in Brisbane for the national papers, including the Sporting Globe, and recalls how the Victorian side, captained by Ron Barassi with Ted Whitten as his deputy, stayed at The Gresham Hotel in the City. He nominated Keith Leach, Noel McGuinness, Dick Verdon, Alex McGill and Ken Grimley as the five best players of his era.

Became assistant sports editor of the Telegraph in 1962 and sports editor in 1967, but kept a close watch on the code right through until his retirement in 1988 when the paper closed.

Telegraph. Born in Sydney, he moved to Queensland as a youngster and lived in Mackay before World War II, but when his father was sent overseas to help the war effort he moved with his family, brother and sister back to the family home at Yackandandah, near Albury.