page_title: John Coleman (Australian footballer)
section_title: Legacy
hierarchical_section_title: John Coleman (Australian footballer) / Legacy
caption_attribution_description: English: Statue of en:John Coleman at en:Hastings, Victoria
context_page_description: John Douglas Coleman was an Australian rules footballer who played for and coached Essendon in the Victorian Football League.
  Coleman ranks as one of the greatest Australian rules footballers of all time. In a relatively short playing career, Coleman has the second highest goal average in the history of the VFL/AFL, kicking 537 goals in 98 matches. He was also known for his high-flying spectacular marks, in some cases jumping cleanly over opponents. After a knee injury ended his playing career at age 25, he returned to coach Essendon to premiership success. Coleman died in 1973, at the age of 44, of sudden coronary atheroma.
  He is the namesake of the Coleman Medal, awarded to the AFL player who kicks the most goals during the home and away season. In 1996 he was one of 12 inaugural Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees bestowed "Legend" status. He is the only player amongst them to play less than 100 games at senior level.
context_section_description: 1981: Introduction of the Coleman Medal, awarded to the highest goalkicker in the VFL/AFL.
  1996, confirming his status as the greatest full-forward to ever play the game, Coleman was selected at full-forward in the AFL's Team of the Century, ahead of famous names such as Gordon Coventry, Bob Pratt, Jack Titus, Ron Todd, Bill Mohr, Peter McKenna, Peter Hudson, Tony Lockett and Jason Dunstall.
  1998: one of the twelve inaugural inductees into the Australian Football Hall of Fame; he was inducted as a "Legend of the Game".
  2002: Recognized as the second greatest player to play for Essendon in the "Champions of Essendon" list, second only to Dick Reynolds.
  2005: Statue of Coleman erected outside the library in Coleman's hometown of Hastings.
  2013: Statue of Coleman erected outside the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
  In 2014, the National Film and Sound Archive discovered an unmarked can of 16 mm film of Coleman playing on Footscray fullback Herb Henderson in the 1953 semi-final, raising the known footage of Coleman in action from two minutes to six.
caption: Statue of Coleman taking a spectacular mark
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