A free history talk exploring the lives and careers of 100 of the region’s greatest sports stars is coming to Geelong on Sunday.
Former sports journalist John Craven will speak about his book, The Conquerors: 100 Geelong Region All-Time International Sports Greats and Brownlow Medallists, at the National Wool Museum from 1.30pm to 3pm on July 28.
Mr Craven started writing the book in 1975, initially attempting to pick out his top 50 Geelong sports stars before putting the project on hold for 43 years.
“Geelong was known back then as Sleepy Hollow and I used to get some good-natured ridicule from my fellow sportswriters,” he said.
“I was a very patriotic Geelong person, and I still am, and with all this ridicule that I was coping with, I thought to myself, ‘You other blokes need to know something about Geelong’.
“In those intervening 43 years, many other young athletes had come to the floor, and they deserved places in the top 50 more than some of the ones that I already had, so I had to extend it to 100.”
Mr Craven said he felt “privileged” to write his book, which was released in October 2022, and looked forward to sharing that with the Geelong community on Sunday.
“There are so many good stories in the book, not because I’ve written them, but because of the people, as the subjects had the stories,” he said.
“Without even being conscious of it, I only had two women in my top 50 initially, but many other women came along in those years and deserved spots in my top 50.”
The event forms part of the Geelong Museum Association’s monthly Sunday Series of talks, with afternoon tea provided and a gold coin donation appreciated.
