- Jerry Dolan
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Jerry Dolan Personal information Full name John Dolan Date of birth 25 December 1901 Place of birth Victoria Park, Perth Date of death 26 December 1986 (aged 85)Original team Kalgoorlie City Position(s) Forward Playing career1 Years Club Games (Goals) 1923–33 East Fremantle 166 (?) Coaching career3 Years Club Games (W–L–D) 1930, 1932–33
1934–38
1941–48, 1950East Fremantle
East Perth
East Fremantle1 Playing statistics to end of 1933 season .John "Jerry" Dolan (25 December 1901 – 26 December 1986) was an Australian rules footballer and coach in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) before becoming a politician. He played for as well as coached East Fremantle and was also a coach at East Perth. After leaving football, Dolan served as a member of the Western Australian Legislative Council.
Dolan originally played in the Goldfields Football Association with Kalgoorlie City and was recruited to East Fremantle after two seasons. He was used mostly as a centre half forward in his time at East Fremantle and participated in their 1925, 1928, 1929 and 1931 premiership teams. Dolan also played in their 1930 and 1933 premiership sides, as captain-coach.
He represented Western Australia at the 1924 Hobart Carnival and captain-coached his state in the 1933 Sydney Carnival. Once his playing career ended, Dolan coached Western Australia at interstate football, from 1946 to 1949.
As non playing coach, Dolan steered East Fremantle to a premiership in the 1943 under-age competition and to back to back flags in 1945 and 1946. He also coached East Perth to a premiership in 1936.
His overall coaching win/loss record stood at 68.2% when he retired, bettered only by Phil Matson when comparing it to other long standing coaches in the league. Both East Fremantle and East Perth never failed to play finals when Dolan was coach. In wining the 1946 premiership, Dolan's East Fremantle side went through the season undefeated, the only occasion this has been done by a WAFL team in the 20th century.
As an Australian Labor Party candidate, Dolan was elected into the Western Australian Legislative Council in 1963. He had won the West Province by-election, which came about when sitting member Evan Davies died. Dolan held various portfolios in the Tonkin Ministry. He served as a Minister for Police, Transport and Railways from March 1971 to May 1973. During his stint in parliament, which ended in 1974, he was also briefly the Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council.
In 1986, the year of his death, Dolan was inducted into the Western Australian Hall of Champions, honouring his contribution to Australian rules football. He was one of the inaugural inductees into the West Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2004 and in 2007 was named as coach of the Fremantle Team of Legends.
References
Categories:- 1901 births
- 1986 deaths
- East Fremantle Football Club players
- East Fremantle Football Club coaches
- East Perth Football Club coaches
- Kalgoorlie City Football Club players
- Australian Labor Party politicians
- Members of the Western Australian Legislative Council
- Australian sportsperson–politicians
- Australian rules footballers from Western Australia
- People from Kalgoorlie
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