Football legend Kevin Sheedy will be a special guest at the function where he will address the audience, which will include many WA football luminaries, on the 150-year celebrations of Australian Football as well as share his thoughts on WA football and Subiaco Oval’s 100-year history, which is also being celebrated in 2008.
Six of the nine men are being inducted as players (Dave Ingraham, Glen Jakovich, John K Watts, Henry Sharpe, Ken McAullay and Leon Baker), while Ken Armstrong and Ian Miller will enter under the player-coach category and George Grljusich will be inducted as a member of the media.
The 2008 inductees are:
DAVE INGRAHAM (deceased – certificate to be accepted by Doug Ingraham)
Player 1940-51
Games: 149
135 South Fremantle; 14 WA
Premierships: South Fremantle 1947, 48, 50
Honours: Simpson Medal 1948 grand final; 1948 South Fremantle fairest and best; South Fremantle Champion Team 1946-76; Sandover Medal runner-up (by one vote) 1949.
After a brief debut in 1940, Ingraham missed five years of football owing to War service, but on his return he played in every State team from 1946 until his retirement in 1951.
A tough no-nonsense ruckman who was not overly tall, but possessed a tremendous leap. He was part of a formidable ruck combination along with Norm Smith and Don Wares and combined brilliantly with champion rover Steve Marsh during those premiership years.
A South Fremantle Life Member, he also served as a committeeman for 11 years, from 1957-67.
IAN MILLER
Player-coach 1967-84
Games: 291
132 Perth; 80 Fitzroy; 64 East Perth; 15 WA
Premierships: Perth 1968; East Perth 1978
Honours: Sandover Medal (Perth) 1972; Simpson Medal (East Perth 1978 grand final; All Australian 1972
A solid half-back flanker who moved to centre-half-forward with Perth in 1972 and became the first player to win a Sandover Medal playing from that key position. After a lengthy clearance wrangle, he enjoyed a four-year stint (1974-77) in the Victorian Football League, with the now-defunct Fitzroy Football Club, where he converted to a ruck-rover role. On his return to Western Australia, he joined East Perth and playing in a similar position was in a premiership side in his first season, playing under former team-mate Barry Cable – and claiming the Simpson Medal for the grand final. He later returned to coach Perth from 1982-84 and then joined the West Coast Eagles, firstly in an assistant coach’s role and then as a full-time member of the football operations department, responsible for player welfare.
KEN ARMSTRONG
Player-coach 1955-93
Games: 171
170 Perth; WA 1
Premierships: Perth 1955 (player); Perth 1976-77 (coach)
After making his debut in 1955 as a 19-year-old, Armstrong played in a premiership team under coach Ern Henfry in his first season and proved to be a classy centreman, captaining the side in 1961. He later returned to coach the club, taking them to a grand final in 1974 before successive flags in 1976-77, losing the 1978 grand final by two points to East Perth. His coaching also claimed premierships with the Perth reserves side in 1971 and 73 and also at North Mt Barker, in the Great Southern League, in 1964 and 66. He added coaching at Subiaco in 1980-82 and was enticed back to Perth again in 1991-93. His coaching record at Perth was 201 games for 106 wins and he also coach Western Australia in 1971 and 78, notching three wins over South Australia.
Armstrong set new standards for coaching in WA, being the first to introduce sports medicine techniques to improve fitness levels, while psychological tests were also introduced to gauge the mental capacity of the players.
Armstrong continued his long involvement with football as a commentator with the ABC and also as a State selector.
GLEN JAKOVICH
Player 1990-2004
Games: 326
276 West Coast Eagles; 51 South Fremantle; 9 WA
Premierships: 1992, 94 West Coast Eagles
Honours: West Coast Eagles Club Champion 1993, 94, 95, 2000; Rookie-of-the-Year 1991; Player-of-the-Finals 1995, 1997; All Australian 1994, 95
Rated as one of the best key defenders produced in this State, Jakovich stood tall at centre-half-back, the position he played for virtually all his career from juniors. He had the distinction of representing Western Australia at three levels in the one year, 1990, when he was in the Teal Cup (under-17s), the WA Football League and State-of-Origin.
Jakovich graduated from the Hamilton Hill Senior High School, earning State Schoolboy selection (1987-88) and Teal Cup (1988-89-90). In the year of his WAFL debut (1990), the football-hungry teenager played 46 matches, across his school side, South Fremantle and Teal Cup.
A totally dedicated professional, Jakovich overcame a knee reconstruction that sidelined him for most of 1996 and early into 97, coming back much earlier than expected.
JOHN WATTS
Player 1954-62
Games: 230
166 East Perth 52 Geelong; 12 WA
Premierships: 1956-57-58 East Perth; 1963 Geelong (VFL)
Honours: Simpson Medal 1959 WA v South Australia
A high-flyer and tough full-back who graduated from nearby Maylands to be an integral part of East Perth’s premiership era of the 1950s under master coach Jack Sheedy. He then followed illustrious teammate Graham Farmer to be part of Geelong’s 1963 premiership and later moved to Tasmania to coach the Hobart Football Club, for a premiership in 1966. On returning to Perth, Watts became a radio personality and pioneered many radio and television football shows.
HENRY (Harry) SHARPE (deceased – certificate to be accepted by Jean Waters)
Player 1903-17
Games: 226
219 East Fremantle; 7 WA
Premierships: East Fremantle 1903-04; 06, 08-09-10-11; 14.
Honours: East Fremantle captain in 1913-14 (premiership year).
Described by East Fremantle legend Dolph Heinrichs in 1924 as “beyond all question, the best and most brilliant wingman of his day”, he was a clever player on both sides of the body. In his second season, he was chosen in the first WA side to travel to Victoria and South Australia and played in the first Australian Carnival in Melbourne in 1908. Though he was recognised as a wingman, he did play forward and headed the WAFL goal-kicking ladder in 1905 and 07 and topped East Fremantle’s goals table four times, with a 12-goal haul against Midland Junction in 1905 his best effort.
KEN McAULLAY
Player 1967-75
Games: 158
152 East Perth; 6 WA
Premierships: 1972 East Perth
Honours: 1972 Tassie Medal at Australian Carnival; 1972 Simpson Medals (Australian Carnival) and grand final; 1972 All Australian player; 1971 East Perth fairest and best.
One of many State Schoolboy representatives who graduated to WAFL and State football with distinction. Generally a half-back flanker, he played efficiently at centre-half-back and thrived when opposed to big-name forwards. Slightly built, he had great capacity to nullify bigger players, such as Victorian full-forward Peter McKenna, who often struggled to shake off McAullay in the interstate arena. Prided himself on not letting rival forwards kick goals against him.
LEON BAKER
Player 1981-88
Games: 156
64 Swan Districts; 86 Essendon; 6 WA
Premierships: 1982-83 Swan Districts; 1984-85 Essendon
Honours: 1983 Swan Districts fairest and best
An enigmatic footballer with a wundelust approach to the game. Originally from Victoria, he played in a number of country leagues before finally arriving at Bassendean Oval in 1981 to put the cream on top of the cake that coach John Todd had developed. He slotted into the midfield and played all 21 home-and-away games in his first season, plus the three finals before Swans bowed out in the grand final. He proved to be an incredibly gifted centreman and shared in the premiership the next season, but after that one flag he continued his travels across the Nullarbor. Only floods stopped him and he headed back to Perth for another season … and another premiership. He then went to Essendon (with Todd’s blessing) and added two more flags to complete his fifth successive grand final.
GEORGE GRLJUSICH, LLB W.Aust (deceased – certificate to be accepted by Judy Grljusich)
Media
A genuine doyen of the sporting world, Grljusich abandoned a league football career to be a radio commentator. That was in 1960, when he debuted with South Fremantle the same day his brother Tom did. But while Tom went on to notch more than 300 games in Western Australia and South Australia, George played just 12 matches before the temptation of a career in broadcasting with the ABC proved irresistible. By that time he had also graduated from the University of Western Australia with a law degree, but even that opportunity didn’t match up to his passionate love for commentating on sport.
In his years with the national broadcaster and later in commercial radio with 6PR, Grljusich called 39 individual sports, covered 15 Interdominion pacing championships, 10 Commonwealth Games and six Olympic Games, starting with the ill-fated Munich Olympics.
Grljusich also served on the South Fremantle committee for one year (1960) and has been prominent in many organizations within the sporting world, including the football, cricket and trotting media guilds.
