Edwin Walter "Teddy" Rankin was an Australian rules footballer, originally with Riversdale, who began playing with Geelong in the VFA in 1891, and later played in the Victorian Football League.
14 Facts About Teddy Rankin
1.
2.
The son of Walter Rankin, and Sarah Rankin, nee Austin, Edwin Walter Rankin was born in Geelong, Victoria on 11 March 1872.
3.
Teddy Rankin married Louisa Jane Johns in 1892, which lasted until her death in 1906.
4.
Teddy Rankin was the father of both Gary O'Donnell and Shelley O'Donnell.
5.
Teddy Rankin played his first match for Geelong's senior team was against South Melbourne on 27 June 1891, when he replaced injured wingman Charlie Wheatland in the selected side.
6.
Teddy Rankin's career spanned 20 seasons of football for Geelong, and during the VFL part of it, he played 180 games, being captain for 15.
7.
Teddy Rankin missed the 1898 season due to typhoid, but returned to the side in the next year and appeared in every season until his retirement, though by then in the backline.
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Shelley O'Donnell 8.
Teddy Rankin retired during the 1910 season at the age of 38, with his career total of 268 games remaining a club record until it was broken by John "Sam" Newman in Round 4 of 1979.
9.
Teddy Rankin represented Victoria three times, and in 1903, won the Geelong Best and Fairest award, as well as becoming the first Geelong player to reach 100 VFL games in the Second Semi-Final.
10.
Teddy Rankin was an advocate of amateurism, arguing against the emerging practice of player payments.
11.
Many credit Teddy Rankin with being the first player in the league to touch the ball on the ground, rather than bouncing it.
12.
Teddy Rankin was employed as the head groundsman at the Geelong College from 1904 to 1941, and as the Principal's gardener from 1941 to 1944.
13.
Teddy Rankin coached the college's First XVIII from 1905 to 1921.
14.
Teddy Rankin died, in a private Geelong hospital, on 31 July 1944.