Johnny Hawke

Norman John "Johnny" Hawke (1925 – 10 January 1992) was an Australian rugby league footballer of the 1940s and '50s.

An Australian international and New South Wales interstate representative back, centre and five-eight he played club football in the ACT as well as in Sydney for St. George Dragons, whom he captained and won a premiership with in 1949.

Early Sporting Career

Hawke was born in Queanbeyan, New South Wales in 1925. At an early age, he displayed enormous sporting talent. Like many young sportsmen of the time, he played Australian rules football on Saturday and rugby league on Sunday. At the age of 15, he played first grade for the Queanbeyan Blues rugby league team and Queanbeyan Tigers Australian football team. After leaving school, he started work at Commonwealth Government Printing Office. He transferred to the Eastlake Football Club as many of the Printing Office staff played for that club. He won Eastlake's best and fairest award in 1945 and in 1946 he captained the team. Eastlake lost the 1946 Grand Final after being undefeated during the year.