Gavin Adrian Wanganeen was born on 18 June 1973 and is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Essendon Football Club and Port Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League, and for the Port Adelaide Magpies in the South Australian National Football League.
34 Facts About Gavin Wanganeen
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Gavin Wanganeen is a descendant of the Kokatha people, a Western Desert people of South Australia, an inheritance he has explored in his art work since retirement.
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Gavin Wanganeen has had two solo exhibitions and was an ambassador for the Adelaide Fringe in 2019.
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Gavin Wanganeen was born in Mount Gambier to a footballing family: his great-grandfather had played for the local team, Koonibba Football Club, at the Koonibba mission near Ceduna.
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Gavin Wanganeen's family moved from Mount Gambier to Port Lincoln for a few years.
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When Gavin Wanganeen was five, they moved again to Salisbury, a northern suburb of Adelaide.
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Gavin Wanganeen played junior football for Adelaide based South Australian Amateur Football League club Salisbury North and attended Salisbury East High School.
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At the age of 14, Gavin Wanganeen joined the Port Adelaide Under 17s side in the SANFL.
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Gavin Wanganeen made his senior SANFL debut with Port Adelaide in 1990 at only 16 years of age.
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Gavin Wanganeen played 24 matches and kicked 46 goals, winning the SANFL Rookie of the Year award, starring in Port Adelaide's 1990 SANFL Grand Final win kicking two goals.
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Gavin Wanganeen's potential was identified early by Essendon, and after losing another South Australian star, Craig Bradley, to Carlton, Bombers coach Kevin Sheedy was determined to secure Gavin Wanganeen.
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Gavin Wanganeen debuted for the club in 1991, Round 2 in a win against Richmond.
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Gavin Wanganeen immediately finding a niche as an attacking defender, and his handsome appearance made him popular with female supporters.
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Gavin Wanganeen enjoyed a special year individually, with his fearless attacking approach from defence typical of Essendon's play that season.
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At 20 years of age, Gavin Wanganeen was the youngest winner of the League's best and fairest award since Fitzroy's Denis Ryan in 1936.
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Gavin Wanganeen was a key player in South Australia's State of Origin Carnival Championship, and Essendon's Premiership win that year.
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In 2002, Gavin Wanganeen was voted the 19th best Essendon player of all time in the "Champions of Essendon" list.
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Gavin Wanganeen returned to Port Adelaide in 1997 as the club's 59th captain and its inaugural captain in the AFL.
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Gavin Wanganeen received 11 Brownlow votes for the year, but after his first season injuries conspired to minimise his impact.
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Gavin Wanganeen relinquished the Port Adelaide captaincy at the end of the 2000 AFL season which saw a return to his best form.
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In 2003 Gavin Wanganeen was favourite to win the Brownlow.
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In 2004 Gavin Wanganeen won his second premiership medal in Port's first AFL premiership side.
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Gavin Wanganeen played his 300th AFL game in the 2006 season, but then injured his right knee in an SANFL game for the Port Adelaide Magpies, which led him to retire from football.
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Gavin Wanganeen was the first Aboriginal player to play 300 AFL games.
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Gavin Wanganeen was honoured by the Power by the naming of the best under 21 medal after him, the Gavin Wanganeen Medal.
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In 2013, Gavin Wanganeen was focused on business interests involving ownership of three Anytime Fitness centres at Modbury, Port Adelaide and Essendon.
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Gavin Wanganeen served as a voluntary ambassador for the Australian branch of the White Ribbon Campaign, a men's campaign that tackles violence against women, and participated in the 2013 "Cycling for Culture" event to draw attention to the importance of language and culture to Aboriginal well-being, specifically to attract funds to contributing to the further development of the Kaurna language.
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In 2013, Gavin Wanganeen was appointed senior coach of Pulteney Grammar School's football team.
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In 2021, Gavin Wanganeen competed on Australian Survivor: Brains V Brawn as part of the Brawn tribe.
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In May 2023, it was announced that Gavin Wanganeen would be participating in the twentieth series of Dancing with the Stars.
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Gavin Wanganeen found a new passion following the closure of his football career and has become an accomplished visual artist, with two solo exhibitions by 2018 and much of his artwork decorating his home in suburban Adelaide.
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In February 2019, Gavin Wanganeen was appointed one of three Fringe Ambassadors for the Adelaide Fringe, where he appeared in conversation with Holly Ransom for the Fringe Talk Show.
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Gavin Wanganeen has a daughter Mia, and a son Tex from his previous marriage to Stephanie Richards.
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Gavin Wanganeen is the first cousin of AFL players and brothers Aaron and Alwyn Davey, and a third cousin of Rabbit Proof Fence actress Natasha Wanganeen.