Club History Bob Quinn - Port Adelaide champion

[Ford Fairlane]

The club is going to do feature articles on Port Adelaide champions in the lead up to the Showdown. First up is Bob Quinn.

Bob Quinn

But if you asked and player or supporter of the club who was around during the 1930s and 1940s - the elder generations of the Port Adelaide faithful - who they rated as the club's best, they would unequivocally say Bob Quinn.

Of the two new northern gates at the Adelaide Oval, one is named for Quinn.

He played 239 games for Port Adelaide between 1933 and 1947 - including seasons with the combined Port/Torrens team during the Second World War.

A dogged forward who kicked 386 goals during his career, he was captain/coach of the Magpies in 1939, 1940 and between 1945 and 1947.

He was not opposed for the captaincy of the club in 1939, and the hierarchy did not hesitate in appointing him coach that year either.

...

But after just six games of the 1940 season, the club's leader enlisted with the Australian Army and was sent to North Africa to fight with the Allies against the Axis forces in Tobruk.

It was on that battlefield that he would earn the Military Medal for courage, leadership and devotion in battle during August 1941.

Bob Quinn

From a post of mine a few years back discussing the greats of SA football:

A guy I never saw play, but who has an enormous reputation at Port Adelaide is Bob Quinn. Small in stature (he was a rover) but enormous in spirit. Quinn sustained life threatening leg injuries when he virtually single handedly stormed a German stronghold in Tobruk in 1941. He won the Military Medal for that act of bravery. He came back and won the Magarey Medal four years later.

Some of his highlights include:

239 games, 386 goals for Port from 1933-42 and 1945-47.
Triple premiership player 1936,37,39.
Four time best and fairest 1937, 38, 45, 47.
Twice Port's leading goalkicker 1937, 45.
Magarey Medallist 1938, 45.
Represented SA 15 times, 26 goals.
Port captain coach 1939-40, 1945-47.

Tomorrow Gavin Wanganeen.

 

[stanmack]

All things considered, there is a strong argument that Bob Quinn is our greatest ever. Just imagine if he had not gone to war and been so badly injured, he simply continued his already great career. Three Magareys, a couple more B & Fs and SAs first 300 gamer I reckon. True champion.

 

[Lockhart Road]

Appropriate to copy here my post last night on another thread:

Family Club nonpareil. No greater example than the Quinn family.

After reading this excellent piece by Matt Agius on the Club website, where better to post the link to it on BF than this thread - other than create a dedicated thread ?
Maybe that will come later, with 'History' as its prefix.

http://www.portadelaidefc.com.au/news/2014-03-24/bob-quinn-port-adelaide-champion

Most of us have heard of Bobby Quinn. Fewer know about his brothers, his father, his extensive family of fighters and footballers...

Once the first Showdown at Adelaide Oval becomes recent (and I trust exceedingly happy) history, and we move towards ANZAC Round, we in the PAFC Family will hear more about the Mighty Quinns.

 

[I Dont Care]

Appropriate to copy here my post last night on another thread:

Family Club nonpareil. No greater example than the Quinn family.

After reading this excellent piece by Matt Agius on the Club website, where better to post the link to it on BF than this thread - other than create a dedicated thread ?
Maybe that will come later, with 'History' as its prefix.

http://www.portadelaidefc.com.au/news/2014-03-24/bob-quinn-port-adelaide-champion

Most of us have heard of Bobby Quinn. Fewer know about his brothers, his father, his extensive family of fighters and footballers...

Once the first Showdown at Adelaide Oval becomes recent (and I trust exceedingly happy) history, and we move towards ANZAC Round, we in the PAFC Family will hear more about the Mighty Quinns.

I suppose I better bring my reply post to your post from the other thread here too

Every time I see or hear the metaphor 'O Captain! My Captain!' I instantly think of Bob Quinn. Well, since reading that article of 4 or 5 years ago by Ashley Porter anyway

 

[RangaInTeal]

I played cricket against his Grandson and Great Grandson this year and you could tell he was from a driven family, success at any cost was evident, at the ripe old age of ?50? Playing A2 Cricket and holding his own, that doesn't just happen!

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Does anyone have links to Bobby Quinn in action? I know there are a few photo's of him on players shoulders and legendary trainer Ted McMahon chairing him off the ground after winning the 1939 flag.

I know there was 2 great photo threads on TPFP one pre 1956 and one post 1955. Does anyone who has migrated over from TFPF have access to any Bob Quinn photos in that pre 1956 thread??

 

[I Dont Care]

Does anyone have links to Bobby Quinn in action? I know there are a few photo's of him on players shoulders and legendary trainer Ted McMahon chairing him off the ground after winning the 1939 flag.

I know there was 2 great photo threads on TPFP one pre 1956 and one post 1955. Does anyone who has migrated over from TFPF have access to any Bob Quinn photos in that pre 1956 thread??

Wasn't that all Muzza's pics? He has wandered over here

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Wasn't that all Muzza's pics? He has wandered over here

Yeah I found his post on TPFP thread an hour or so again.

 

[HaroldOliver]

I suppose I better bring my reply post to your post from the other thread here too

Every time I see or hear the metaphor 'O Captain! My Captain!' I instantly think of Bob Quinn. Well, since reading that article of 4 or 5 years ago by Ashley Porter anyway

Unfortunately I can no longer locate that Ashley Porter article on the net "I Don't Care" - definitely the best thing he ever wrote:
Bob Quinn – A Legend who Stuck by his Mates appeared in the Independent Weekly, 28 April 2008.
Champion player, Champion person.

 

[I Dont Care]

Unfortunately I can no longer locate that Ashley Porter article on the net "I Don't Care" - definitely the best thing he ever wrote:
Bob Quinn – A Legend who Stuck by his Mates appeared in the Independent Weekly, 28 April 2008.
Champion player, Champion person.

Yes HO, I knew where it was on TPFP, but....

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Good thing I saved it when it was reproduced on portmagpies.com.au


28th Apr 2008
In a tribute to Anzac Day and also Club Legend Bob Quinn, the Port Adelaide Magpies Football Club wishes to acknowledge Ashley Porter for his wonderful feature on Bob Quinn in last week’s Independent Weekly – thanks to Ashley and the Independent Weekly for releasing this article for use by the Club.


Bob Quinn is a legend of South Australian league football; a dual Magarey Medallist. He was also a war hero; earning a Military Medal. Now 93, he is enduring his greatest battle. On this ANZAC Day we reveal the other story behind his remarkable act of bravery on August 3, 1941. Ashley Porter reports.

Pull-out quote:
"For all of Dad's rough and tough stuff on the football field, and what he did in war, he has been such a compassionate man. His friendship with people has always been paramount. He taught me that you can't have enough friends or mates.

The Port River lapped only yards from the back door of the Quinn family home, and twice weekly Bob and his father, Jack, rowed across where the Birkenhead Bridge has since been built, climbed up a ladder to the wharf, and walked to Alberton Oval.

Along the way, Jack, who played for Port Adelaide early last century when the club had a magenta-coloured jumper – he was captain in 1904-05 and also represented the state – stopped at the Alberton Hotel. Bob went on to training, picked up his dad on the way back, listened to him tell his football yarns yet again, and then rowed him back home.

Jack must have been a sentimental bloke – for a wharfie – because he gave his son a middle name after the troop ship S.S. Berrima that visited shortly before Bob was born in 1915.

These marvellous clips of Bob Quinn, a South Australian football legend, and a war hero, were shared again by those who closely surround him, when he turned 93 on April 9.

For almost two years, Quinn, who lives in a war veterans' home, has been bed-ridden and unable to speak. On a good day, and there are few, he will nod to his devoted children, Robert jun, Greg, and daughters Pam and Margaret, but only when he can recognise them. It has been the cruellest, certainly the most personal, battle of Quinn's life.

His refusal to give up is typical of a man whose courage and tenacity as a footballer and a soldier enabled him to win a Magarey Medal in 1938, earn a Military Medal during the Second World War and win another Magarey Medal, in 1945. It made him the original "Triple M".

At just 5ft 6in, and less than 11 stone, Quinn, a rover like his father, played 186 SANFL games – many as captain and coach – and kicked 386 goals for Port between 1933 and 1947. He won two best-and-fairest awards before World War II and two after, played in three premiership sides and represented SA 15 times – and was state captain-coach in 1945, '46 and '47. He was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 1996.

His champion qualities have been well documented, but key parts of the legend of R.B. Quinn, war hero, have never been released. The archives tell us he earned his Military Medal at Tobruk on August 2-3, 1941, for "courage, leadership and devotion". But he has always shied away from talking publicly about the medal – and, pertinently, the reasons for his silence.

It was 20 years ago this week that Quinn agreed to tell this then young, brash reporter his story. "After I tell you this, you won't write it until you think the time is right," he said. The time has come.

That day, he peered into my eyes and said, with immense pride, he was a member of the 2/43rd battalion stationed in Tobruk, Libya. He was one of the legendary Desert Rats, Australians, who against all odds, fought the Germans and ultimately stood in the way of them invading Egypt, and taking control of the Suez Canal.

Our Diggers were protected by fortresses of barbed-wire fences. On August 3, at precisely 03.25 hours, 70 artillery guns of various calibres, mortars and grenades, lit up the sky, and the firing of 16 enemy machine guns was deafening. It was later described in a meticulously documented book on the history of the 2/43rd as the heaviest artillery battering of that Middle East campaign.

After one of three sections was wiped out, acting Warrant Officer Quinn was ordered to take command of the 10th platoon and blow up a barbed-wire barrier and attack an enemy post from which a machine gun was inflicting heavy casualties.

Quinn took seven men with him, and, typically, he not only packed ammunition and bully beef for them, but cigarettes, even though he never smoked. To blow up the barbed wire they had to jump out of a trench and lay a Bangalore torpedo, an explosive charge placed on the end of a long, extendable tube.

Under an unrelenting hail of fire, Quinn looked at his men in the trench and told them they were probably facing death, and how he would lay the last pipe, the most difficult of all because it was the closest to the machine gun.

One by one, Quinn ordered his men to jump from the trench and place a pipe under the wire. Only three of the seven came back. It was then Quinn's turn, and he was hit by shrapnel which put a hole in the top of his right thigh, but he still put the last pipe down, which ultimately made this crucial mission successful.

On his way back to the trench, Quinn picked up a wounded mate, and was hit again, this time in the face, prompting another to say: "Hell, Bob, half your face is blown away." Quinn responded: "Any change would be a … improvement."

Through this immense act of bravery, and with such a humorous gem, an indelible bond of mateship was formed.

On this day in 1988, I asked Quinn why he never wanted to talk about it; after all, it was one of the many heroic deeds of our famed Desert Rats.

With glistening eyes, he looked at me and said: "Because some of the men refused to jump." He then grabbed my arm, and said: "But they were brave men, all of them. They had done things like this before, knowing that death faced them, but on this night their bodies froze.

"Imagine what it's like for those who didn't go, every time there is a story about Bob Quinn and his Military Medal. It has been an incredible burden for them to carry for all these years. They saw themselves as cowards, but I tell you they weren't. They had no idea where they were, and what they were doing. The noise was deafening. But no matter what you say, they still feel that sense of guilt for not jumping the line. Son, war is not made up of feel-good stories."

The tragedies of the Middle East during World War II always cut deeper into Quinn's heart because his younger brother, George Urban Quinn, who lied about his age to enlist in the army, was killed in action in Egypt in July, 1942.

Those brave souls of the 2/43rd alongside Quinn in that trench have passed away. The story is special and should be told, not only because of Quinn's courage, leadership and devotion, but for his amazing determination to protect his mates who considered themselves as not being brave by not leaping to what they believed was a certain death.

To risk his life for his country was brave; to protect the honour of his mates for 67 years has been remarkable, and typical of this genuine bloke.

The constant shelling during that fateful conflict on August 3, 1941 in the desert sands of Tobruk lasted until seven o'clock that morning when a padre tore up a pillow case, made red dye, and painted it with a symbol of the Red Cross. The Germans saw him, and there was a cease fire so both sides could surface to collect their dead and wounded.

Of the 137 Australians who fought the battle, 106 were casualties – 29 dead, 73 wounded, and four missing in action. That makeshift Red Cross flag is now displayed in the War Memorial in Canberra.

Quinn's younger son, Greg, 53, related this week how his dad was sent to a hospital base, and, as he lay on the table virtually bleeding to death, he asked the doctor whether he would able to play football again. "There was a stern reply that he doubted whether he would be able to save Dad's leg," Greg said.

Quinn recovered and insisted on returning to active duty, in New Guinea. Greg said his dad told him how one night there was gunfire at close quarters. "It's hard to imagine what it was like," Greg said. "One of his mates was standing shoulder-to-shoulder, and got hit, screaming for help from Dad. In pitch darkness, and not knowing where he was, Dad crawled along the ground and dragged him 100 metres, although Dad said it felt like a mile. When they were in the clear, Dad turned around and his mate was dead. There was little left of him.

"Dad has never gone out of his way to tell these stories, but whenever he was trying to express something about looking after other people, and the situations you get into in life, he told me something like this. It was always about helping your mates out, no matter what, whether at war, on the footy field, or wherever.

"For all of Dad's rough and tough stuff on the football field, and what he did in war, he has been such a compassionate man. His friendship with people has always been paramount. He taught me that you can't have enough friends or mates. That was the lesson my dad taught me. You have to maintain friendships, he'd say."

Quinn was wounded in action again, in New Guinea, but soon after was back playing for Port and SA. He won his second Magarey Medal in 1945 – a year before he was discharged as a lieutenant.

"Dad has been through an amazing journey, but I can honestly say he has never thought of himself as more special than anyone else," Greg said. "He has always been a wonderful dad to all of us, and a terrific grandfather, and most of all, a great mate to so many.

"My brother, Robert, played league football for Port and South Adelaide, and I played reserves for Port, although I was more into cricket. Dad always encouraged and led us, but not once did he ever make us feel that we had to live up to him as a footballer."

Quinn's wife, May, or "Maysie" as she was better known, died 13 years ago. She was a state netballer, and her brother, C.W. (Charlie or "Chilla") Walker, was the SA cricket team's wicketkeeper for 12 seasons from 1928-29 and the Australian team's deputy 'keeper on the 1930 and 1938 tours of England. He was understudy to NSW's Bert Oldfield in 1930 and lost his chance to play in the 1938 Tests – ahead of Victorian Ben Barnett - by breaking his left forefinger before the first tour match.

Jack Pollard records in his book, Australian Cricket, The Game And The Players, that Walker "died in an air battle over Germany (in 1942) while serving as a Flying Officer with the RAAF, aged 33".

The SA Cricket Association's annual trophy for the best wicketkeeper in the grade (formerly district) competition is named after Walker. Greg Quinn, an accomplished 'keeper with West Torrens and East Torrens in more than 400 matches, won it seven times.

"Dad has a heart like an ox," Greg said. "He has no quality of life now, which is incredibly sad. He just won't let go. It is hard for all of us, but we are fortunate to have so many wonderful memories of a man who was a mate to so many."

Greg is employed by the SACA as a fielding and wicketkeeping coach. On his desk is a photo of his father being carried off Adelaide Oval by Ted McMahon after Quinn coached and captained Port to its 16.28 (124) to 11.11 (77) victory over West Torrens in the 1939 SANFL grand final.

"I look at that photo every day, and I see a strong man, a businessman, a publican, and the greatest dad anyone could wish for," Greg said. "He said he didn't stop laughing for 20 years when he had the pub at Kadina when it came six o'clock swill time. He just loved the company of his mates. He will always be my hero."

For the sixth successive year, Greg, and his 14-year-old son, Mitchell, will present the Robert B. Quinn Medal to the best player in the Anzac Day match - today's battle between last year's grand finalists, Central District and North Adelaide, at Adelaide Oval.

Quinn's family intends to one day give Bob's two Magarey Medals and his Military Medal to Port, on loan to display in the social club within the grandstand named after him.

Robert Berrima Quinn has always been special – just ask his grandson, Mitchell Berrima Quinn, who bears his middle name with immense pride.

Edit web archive link

https://web.archive.org/web/2014022...ewsarchive.php?mnth=4&season=2008&news_id=269

 

[Lockhart Road]

Thank you, REH - I haven't read anything about football thrown together with warfare and above all mateship that comes close to this.

Bob Quinn was my father's idol, absolutely. Now I know why.

Port Adelaide Legend... forever.

 

[proman_x]

Fabulous article, such a true champion of a man! It would be a very special moment if any of his kin pulled on the PAFC jumper once more. If they had half the sheer guts and attitude the great man had we would be blessed

 

[PAFC04]

This is no disrespect to the Peter Badcoe, but Bobby Quinn Anzac Medal given to the BOG player on Anzac day round is a better fit IMO....having played for Port and having to row his boat across the Port River with his dad to get to Alberton Oval and what he went through in service is the epitome of our club and I believe how we came to be the club that we are......Bobby Quinn set the bar.

Like I said, this is no disrespect the Badcoe family.....

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

This is no disrespect to the Peter Badcoe, but Bobby Quinn Anzac Medal given to the BOG player on Anzac day round is a better fit IMO....having played for Port and having to row his boat across the Port River with his dad to get to Alberton Oval and what he went through in service is the epitome of our club and I believe how we came to be the club that we are......Bobby Quinn set the bar.

Like I said, this is no disrespect the Badcoe family.....

The SANFL started awarding the Bob Quinn medal for the best player in the ANZAC Day grand final replay before we came up with the Peter Badcoe VC medal. That only came about when the club was able to do a 3 year deal with the AFL to play the Saints around ANZAC Day starting in 2005 or 2006.

 

[tribey]

Of all the legends I never got to see in the flesh, Quinn is the one I'd kickstarter the flux capacitor for most.

Moreso than Russell, Evans, Fos, Bro, Shine or Oliver.

Abley a close second.

 

[PAFC04]

The SANFL started awarding the Bob Quinn medal for the best player in the ANZAC Day grand final replay before we came up with the Peter Badcoe VC medal. That only came about when the club was able to do a 3 year deal with the AFL to play the Saints around ANZAC Day starting in 2005 or 2006.

Thanks for that info, question is why? Is that because the SANFL have the rights to still use the name currently, if so, do we have a leg to stand on (pardon the pun) to get that back?

If that is the case, Bob Quinn medal deserves to be in a more meaningful game at an AFL Anzaz Day game?

 

[I Dont Care]

Thank you, REH - I haven't read anything about football thrown together with warfare and above all mateship that comes close to this.

Bob Quinn was my father's idol, absolutely. Now I know why.

Port Adelaide Legend... forever.

LR, I still remember when I first read this....I had to look away a couple of times, because the tears were blinding me. I think I did copy and paste it at the time and have it tucked away on a hard drive somewhere as it is too valuable a piece not too. I remember thinking that Bob Quinn wasn't just a Captain of our club, he was a Captain of men, and someone all of our Captains should aspire to be

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Thanks for that info, question is why? Is that because the SANFL have the rights to still use the name currently, if so, do we have a leg to stand on (pardon the pun) to get that back?

If that is the case, Bob Quinn medal deserves to be in a more meaningful game at an AFL Anzaz Day game?

Why? Probably the club was grateful that they acknowledged Quinn with their ANZAC Day medal. The AFL one isn't named after anyone. Once the Quinn medal was set up you couldn't just take it away. I suspect Bob Quinn was grateful for the honour and would have been more than happy. He also spent the last 3 or 4 years of his life in poor health and he didn't talk at all. Quinn was a great of the SANFL. I think its right that they have named their ANZAC Day medal after him.

What you are suggesting happens is something Bob Quinn and his son Greg and siblings wouldn't want to get involved in.

 

[I Dont Care]

I remember several years ago some cretin knocked off his war medals, does anyone know if he got them back?

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

I remember several years ago some cretin knocked off his war medals, does anyone know if he got them back?

I don't know if they were ever stolen but they have been sitting at the Port Club for a few years. Come ANZAC Day Round in a few weeks time - his war medals including his Military Medal, his Military Medal award citation and his Magarey medals will be properly displayed and encased in a prominent position at The Port Club.

 

[I Dont Care]

I don't know if they were ever stolen but they have been sitting at the Port Club for a few years. Come ANZAC Day Round in a few weeks time - his war medals including his Military Medal, his Military Medal award citation and his Magarey medals will be properly displayed and encased in a prominent position at The Port Club.

This would have been around late '90s early 2000's, I think it was on an Anzac Day and he was enjoying a brew, probably watching two-up in a city pub when it happened, family were appealing for their return

 

[RangaInTeal]

LR, I still remember when I first read this....I had to look away a couple of times, because the tears were blinding me. I think I did copy and paste it at the time and have it tucked away on a hard drive somewhere as it is too valuable a piece not too. I remember thinking that Bob Quinn wasn't just a Captain of our club, he was a Captain of men, and someone all of our Captains should aspire to be

Reading this just now, I was also fighting back the tears!

 

[scoobydid]

My family background is finnish, and there is a not easily translated word that exists that is used to describe those of Mr Quinn's character & life achievements, not really found in other languages. The word is Sisu.

Bob Quinn had this in spades.

Thank you for the post, i will be sharing this story with people cos it deserves to be told.

It makes me proud.


Sisu: determination, bravery, and resilience. Taking action against the odds and displaying courage and resoluteness in the face of adversity. Deciding on a course of action and then sticking to that decision. After a second wind is needed. That's as good as i can translate it

 

[RangaInTeal]

I hope the club releases some memorabilia, maybe - 'The Spirit' Bob Quinn - two replica Magareys, replica moh, stats and a story similar to what is written above.
Or 10 of the best, McLean, Quinn, Oliver, Hosking, Abley, Ebert, Cahil, Motley, Wanganeen and Tredrea, providing photos of each with Stats and stories framing the pictures.