32 Facts About Johnny King

Johnny Cecil King was born on 2 July 1942 and is an Australian former rugby league footballer and coach.

Johnny King was a winger with the St George Dragons for the last seven years of their eleven consecutive premiership-winning run from 1956 to 1966.

Johnny King was a representative in the Australian national team from 1966 to 1970, earning 15 Test caps.

Johnny King has been named among the nation's finest footballers of the 20th century.

Johnny King was with the South Sydney Rabbitohs, playing 19 matches in South's reserves and first grade in 1944 and 1945.

Smith owned two taxis and Johnny King shared taxi driving shifts with two other runners in Smith's training squad.

Cec Johnny King competed in several well-known "Gifts" and won Victoria's 1946 Nyah Gift, competed in the Wagga Gift in January 1947 and won the prestigious Canberra Gift in March 1947.

When Johnny King was five years old in 1948, Cec returned to Gilgandra and worked again as a mechanic.

Johnny King played each season in the local cricket competition.

Johnny King left school to become an apprentice to the local jeweller, Norman Noonan, who was involved in the Gilgandra Football Club and other sporting clubs.

Johnny King was graded in 1960 to the St George Dragons third grade side and towards of the end of the 1960 season played five games on the wing in first grade including the 1960 Grand Final victory over the Eastern Suburbs Roosters in which he scored two tries.

Johnny King scored the only try of the 1964 Grand Final at the end of an extraordinary passage of play.

Smith off-loaded to Johnny King, who sped the remaining 20 yards down the left wing and scored a diving try.

Johnny King played in seven of the Dragons' consecutive premiership victories and holds the distinctive record of scoring six tries over six consecutive winning Grand Final appearances from 1960 to 1965.

Johnny King was the NSW Rugby League's leading try-scorer twice in his career: firstly in 1961 and again in 1965.

Johnny King retired after one match of the 1971 season following a motor vehicle accident in which he suffered three crushed vertebrae.

Johnny King formed a dangerous left-centre, left-wing partnership with Australian rugby league Immortal Reg Gasnier and scored many of his 143 club tries by being perfectly positioned to finish off after breaks by his inside men.

Between the 1964 and 1965 seasons Johnny King showed incredible fortitude to recover from a serious lawnmower accident in which his foot was partially severed to be running and fully fit for round seven of 1965.

Johnny King first played for New South Wales against a touring Great Britain side in 1962 and then again in 1963,1964 and 1965.

Johnny King was at that time vying for the national wing position against his great club rivals Ken Irvine, Peter Dimond and Michael Cleary.

Johnny King later represented New South Wales in 1969 and 1970 and scored nine career tries for the Blues.

Johnny King finally made his Australian Test debut in the 1966 domestic Ashes series against Great Britain where he appeared in all three Tests.

Johnny King was selected on the 1967 Kangaroo tour making six Test appearances and playing in twelve minor tour matches.

Johnny King was the tour's second highest try scorer with a tally of nine.

Johnny King was in the Australian squad for the 1968 World Cup and made two tournament appearances scoring two tries.

Johnny King made a single Test appearance against New Zealand in 1967 and played his three final Test matches against the touring Great Britain Lions of 1970.

Johnny King is listed on the Australian Players Register as Kangaroo No 404.

In 1984 John Johnny King coached Country Seconds to an upset win over Sydney.

Johnny King is the grandfather of the rugby league footballer; Max Johnny King.

Johnny King was awarded Life Membership of the St George Dragons club in 1992.

In February 2008, Johnny King was named in the list of Australia's 100 Greatest Players which was commissioned by the NRL and ARL to celebrate the code's centenary year in Australia.

On 20 July 2022, Johnny King was named in the St George Dragons District Rugby League Clubs team of the century.