Don Grossman Explained

Don Grossman
Fullname:Donald Clarence Grossman[1]
Birth Date:27 December 1920
Birth Place:Brunswick, Victoria
Death Date:[2]
Death Place:Warrnambool
Originalteam:Port Melbourne
Height:182 cm
Weight:80 kg
Position:Ruckman
Statsend:1947
Years1:1940–1947
Club1:South Melbourne
Games Goals1:93 (32)

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).

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

Notes and References

  1. Web site: WW2 Nominal Roll. Government of Australia. 8 November 2015. 4 March 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304060348/http://www.ww2roll.gov.au/Veteran.aspx?serviceId=R&veteranId=860794. dead.
  2. Obituary in the Herald Sun, 7 August 2004
  3. http://afltables.com/afl/stats/players/D/Don_Grossman.html AFL Tables: Don Grossman
  4. Book: Holmesby, Russell. Main. Jim. The Encyclopedia Of AFL Footballers. BAS Publishing. 2007. 978-1-920910-78-5.
  5. Camperdown Chronicle ,"Don Grossman Wins Maskell Cup", 21 August 1951, p. 2