Don Grossman

Who is Don Grossman?

Donald Clarence "Don" Grossman was an Australian rules footballer who played with South Melbourne in the Victorian Football League.

A Port Melbourne recruit, Grossman started his VFL career in 1940. He didn't play at all in 1943 due to his Royal Australian Air Force commitments. He appeared in all 22 games for South Melbourne in 1945 and featured prominently in the "Bloodbath Grand Final", where Carlton defeated South Melbourne in a spiteful encounter. Starting in the back pocket, Grossman, who would later be an amateur boxer, played as a ruckman and was reported for striking Carlton's Jim Mooring. He was found guilty and missed the opening eight rounds of the 1946 VFL season through suspension.

Grossman left South Melbourne in 1948 to take up an offer to captain-coach Warrnambool. He remained in that position for six years before switching to South Warrnambool in 1954 and coaching them to a premiership in his first year. In 1951, while at Warrnambool, he won the Hampden Football League's Best and Fairest award.