During February 2023 the Hawks Museum received a visit from Jenni Beddoes, the daughter of former committee member, the late Sefton Dunn, with her son Mitch.
Jenni and Mitch were bearing gifts for the Club Collection, including her father’s Jack Titus Medallion that he received in 1988.
Since 1977, the Jack Titus is awarded annually by the VFL/AFL to a Club Volunteer who has made a significant contribution to his Club and to the game of Australian Rules Football. Hawthorn is well represented in this award with six recipients. Max Elmer (1980), Sefton Dunn (1988), Ken Goddard (1997), Andy Angwin (1990), Brian Coleman (1994) and Peter Haby (2023).
Titus award winners, Ken Goddard and his good mate, Andy Angwin’s awards are on permanent display in the Hawks Museum, in the John Kennedy Snr cabinet with Sefton Dunn’s award placed in the Recent Acquisitions Cabinet.
A sincere thank you is offered to Jenni and Mitch. The museum now holds an impressive collection of Sefton Dunn’s memorabilia reflecting his impressive contribution to Hawthorn. This collection includes his Jack Titus Medallion (1988), HFC 10 Year Service Medallion, PP&OA Medallion (1994), Under 17 Committee Medallion and the Souvenir Plate from an End of Season Trip to Hong Kong, two Club Blazers and his 1971 Premiership Trophy presented to Committee Members.
Photo: Jenni and her son Mitch Beddoes present her father Sefton Dunn’s Titus Medal to the Club Collection
A month later, the museum welcomed the Tovey family from Queensland. They presented Legendary Club Head Trainer, Beau Wallace’s HFC Hall of Fame Inductee’s Medallion to the Club Collection. The Tovey family were close friends of the late Bill Wallace, Beau’s son and, with the passing of Bill’s wife, the medallion was bequeathed to the Hawthorn Football Club. The museum is very grateful to the Tovey family in carrying out the Wallace family wishes.
The museum has become the home of four HFC Hall of Fame Inductees Medallions. Some years back, the Kennon Family presented Hawthorn’s first VFL Club President, J W Kennon’s Hall of Fame Inductee’s Medallion, which is on permanent display as part of the Club Chronology exhibit. The museum also holds former Club President and player, Phil Ryan, and the 1961 Premiership Captain, Graham Arthur’s Hall of Fame Inductees Medallions which are on display in the Legends Cabinet.
Photo: Mrs Tovey on behalf of the Bill Wallace family presents William ‘Beau’ Wallace’s HFC Hall of Fame Inductees Medallion to the Club Collection
Sefton ‘Sef’ Dunn
Born May 19, 1917 - Died May 15, 1995
Committee 1957-1983
Under 19 Committee 1952-1957
Recruiting 1959-1991
Maintenance Man 1983-1995
Life Member 1965
HFCSC Life Member
Jack Titus Award 1988
Speaking at the funeral of Sef Dunn, former President Ron Cook described him as the greatest example of a clubman any sporting club could wish to have. Dunn’s loyalty and dedication was an example to us all. Back in the early 1970s, when Glenferrie Oval had been re-sown in the middle of a drought and water restrictions were in force, he turned up night after night and stood watering the precious turf until long after dark.
For over 30 years, one of Dunn’s key roles was in recruiting. He became a familiar figure at the football clubs throughout Victoria, gaining a reputation as a very good judge of a young footballer, with Chris Langford one his favourite choices. Dunn holds the honour as the longest serving Committeeman / Director - 27 years, from 1957 to 1983. He only relinquished his position as a director in 1983 for the betterment of the club when they wanted to reduce the size of the committee.
Dunn was part of the group who gathered around President Dr Ferguson in the 1950s and set about putting the club on a more business-like footing. He seconded Max Elmer’s visionary motion to appoint John Kennedy Snr as coach in 1960–1963, which brought the ultimate joy of the Club’ first premiership in 1961. In 1964 Kennedy Snr left Hawthorn, moving to country Victoria as Principal of Stawell Technical School. The club’s performance on the field faulted. Dunn stepped up again as part of the persuasive Committee that led to Kennedy Snr returning to Hawthorn in 1967, which in turn led to the club’s second premiership in 1971.
Dunn also served as member of the Glenferrie Oval Ground Committee from 1966 to 1973 and when the club began playing home games at Carlton in 1974, he continued as a member of the Princess Park Sub-committee to 1983.
He was awarded Life Membership in 1965 and in 1988, Dunn received the prestigious Jack Titus Award that is presented annually by the VFL/AFL to a football administrator who has given outstanding service to the game and to his club. Even after retiring from official duties, Dunn continued to serve the football and social clubs as the unofficial ‘Mr Fix It Maintenance Man’ from 1983 to the day he died in 1995.
William ‘Beau’ Wallace
Born 1890 - Died August 28, 1970
Honorary Life Head Trainer 1966-1969
Head Trainer VFA 1923-24, VFL 1926-1965
Assistant Trainer VFA 1919-1922 and VFL 1925
Hall of Fame Inductee 2011
William ‘Beau’ Wallace, a local lad in 1919, the year the VFA resumed after the First World War, joined the Hawthorn Football Club staff to assist with training. This was the beginning of 51 years of devoted service that saw Beau appointed Head Trainer in 1924, a role he held for more than forty years.
He served under the club's first 19 senior coaches, from Jim Jackson in 1925 through to John Kennedy Snr in the mid 1960s. He was a major figure in the daily club life during those years. Such was his standing in the wider world of VFL football, he was considered one of the public faces of Hawthorn.
He stood down as active Head Trainer in 1966. Such was his worth and experience to Hawthorn, he was given the title of honorary Life Head Trainer, assisting the new, younger members of the Training Support Staff. He held that role until the end of 1969. Team photographs through the years show him with his slicked-down hair, parted in the middle and a rather serious yet natty demeanour, with his ever-present cigarette holder and professor-like glasses.
On training nights and match day, Wallace presided over a team of masseurs who would stand at attention by their rub-down tables, decked out in white, waiting with their liniment to prepare the players. However, his role extended well beyond the inner sanctum.
His responsibilities saw him take over the role of ‘chief executive of the dressing rooms’, as he organised card nights, dances in the pavilion, cake stalls in Glenferrie Road and staged ‘fancy dress’ football matches to help meet the payment for the players and football equipment.
Players would often drop into his furniture shop in Burwood Road to receive additional treatment for injuries and to seek advice. Wallace services were also sort after by the VFL for Victorian State Representative Teams.
By day, Beau had his own business, working as a French polisher in Burwood Road and, in later years, was joined in the business by his son, Bill who specialized in upholstery. However, to the Wallace family, football and Hawthorn was their life.
Apart from Beau’s involvement, his wife, Vera served for many years on the Ladies’ Committee raising funds, serving dinners, and repairing the player’s uniforms. After almost forty years at the club, Beau experienced the thrill of the VFL Finals for the first time in 1957, followed by the club’s first premiership in 1961. Beau had weathered the very lean years since he joined the club in 1919 and was very proud to be part of a successful team.
After Beau passed away in 1970, the Past Players & Officials renamed their rooms in the Dr. Ferguson Stand, the Beau Wallace Room. Such was the respect in which he was held. He was made a Life Member in 1936 and in 2010, was named as an Inductee in the HFC Hall of Fame.
