| Jack Mueller | |
| Fullname: | John Ernest Arthur Mueller |
| Birth Date: | 9 September 1915 |
| Birth Place: | Echuca, Victoria, Australia |
| Originalteam: | Echuca (Bendigo FL) |
| Height: | 188 cm |
| Weight: | 89 kg |
| Statsend: | 1950 |
| Years1: | 1934–1950[1] |
| Club1: | Melbourne |
| Games Goals1: | 216 (378) |
| Sooyears1: | 1936–1941 |
| Sooteam1: | Victoria |
| Soogames Goals1: | 4 (4) |
| Careerhighlights: |
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John Ernest Arthur Mueller (9 September 1915 – 14 June 2001) was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL).
The son of Francis Carl Mueller (1880-1945),[2] [3] [4] and Eliza Mary "Cissie" Mueller (1887-1960), née O'Brien, John Ernest Arthur Mueller was born on 9 September 1915.
He married Margaret Rose "Greta" Toohey on 14 April 1942.[5]
Mueller was famous for having only eight fingers, after losing two when he caught his hand in a machine at work.[6] [7]
He was an inspirational player who contributed significantly to the success of the Melbourne sides in which he played during the 1930s, '40s and '50s. He was notable as the primary instigator of Melbourne's 1948 flag victory after being recalled from retirement (with the reserves) for that year's Preliminary Final in which he kicked eight of his team's 25 goals against Collingwood. He followed this up with six out of 10 in the drawn Grand Final with Essendon and another six out of 13 the following week when Melbourne won the replay.
After initially being rejected in 1941 due to his missing fingers, Mueller served in the Australian Army from 1943 to 1945,[8] playing very few games for Melbourne in these three seasons.
In the late 1940s and 1950s, Mueller was a football commentator on 3KZ, working first with Norman Banks and later Philip Gibbs. Mueller also worked with Gibbs on the program Football Inquest, which was later simulcast on 3KZ and GTV-9.
Jack Mueller died on 14 June 2001[9] and is buried at Springvale Botanical Cemetery.