26 Facts About Jack Titus

Jack "Skinny" Titus was an Australian rules football player who played in the Victorian Football League between 1926 and 1943 for the Richmond Football Club.

Jack Titus was originally recruited to Richmond from Victorian country club Castlemaine competing in the Bendigo Football League.

Jack Titus was noticed by the Tigers' brilliant secretary Percy Page and in 1925 at age 17 invited to play with the Richmond reserves, then known as 'The Cubs'.

Jack Titus' early career was a battle for recognition at a powerful club with a number of excellent forwards.

Jack Titus played a single senior game in 1926, and a handful the following year but missed selection in the finals as the team finished runner-up.

Jack Titus attracted notice by winning the reserves best and fairest in 1928, a performance that won him a place in the Tigers' semi-final team.

Jack Titus booted six goals in a match-winning performance, but was more subdued in the grand final when Richmond went down to Collingwood for the second consecutive time.

Jack Titus won the best and fairest and led the club's goalkicking for the first time, but was held goalless in the Grand Final as the Tigers lost yet again.

Finally, Richmond broke through for a premiership in 1932 and Jack Titus was a member of the team.

The glamorous Swans triumphed the first time, but Jack Titus was instrumental in his team gaining revenge the following year when he booted six goals to eclipse his rival Bob Pratt, the highest scoring full-forward in the game.

In direct contrast to the spectacular Pratt, Jack Titus was a hard working player, solid in the air and getting a lot of goals through opportunism and adept ground play.

Jack Titus's record emphasises consistency rather than big "bags" of goals, although he did have a number of notable individual performances.

Jack Titus earned a reputation as feisty customer who would deliberately antagonise opponents if he thought they could be distracted.

Jack Titus led the VFL goalkicking for the first time as Richmond headed into the grand final for the first time in six years.

Jack Titus was poised to become the second player to reach 300 games and 1000 goals, and break the record streak of 191 consecutive appearances.

Jack Titus did the latter, but sustained serious injury for the first time causing him to miss playing in Richmond's fifth premiership.

Jack Titus accepted the decision gracefully, even though he was left stranded five games short of 300 and 26 goals from 1000.

Jack Titus joined Victorian Football Association club Coburg in 1945.

Jack Titus kicked 139 goals for Coburg and then retired in the middle of the 1946 season.

Aged 39, Jack Titus stepped up and scored 12 goals then retired from playing for the last time.

Jack Titus continued to serve the club loyally as a selector, vice president and VFL delegate for the next three decades until his untimely death.

Jack Titus guided the team to fifth place, an important contribution to the Richmond renaissance of the late 1960s.

Jack Titus died in 1978 after intervening in an altercation at his pub the Limerick Castle in North Melbourne.

Jack Titus' playing number 12 was inherited by Matthew Richardson in the 1990s, who eventually broke Jack Titus' record of eleven club goalkicking awards, another record thought to be safe.

Jack Titus was elected to the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 1996, and in 1998 he was named as full-forward in the Richmond Team of the Century.

Jack Titus was an inaugural inductee into the Richmond Hall of Fame in 2002, where in 2019 he was elevated to 'Immortal' status.