Watch interviews with Hawks greats on John Kennedy above.

HAWTHORN legend John Kennedy Snr has been described by David Parkin as more than just a football coach, he was a coach of the person and of life.

Parkin likened his former coach, mentor and friend to a parent - someone he was lucky enough to be ‘adopted’ by when he became a Hawthorn player.

The 1971 Premiership Captain said Kennedy was more than a football coach.

“You’re lucky if you choose your parents well and I think that I had that luck in life,” Parkin told hawthornfc.com.au exclusively at Kennedy’s Roast on Friday.

“To be ‘adopted’ as an 18-year-old by John Kennedy and have him for the next 10 years of my life influence my day and my thinking, I’m thankful for that.

“Sometimes your coaches aren’t all that they should be in regards to that but he was a coach of the person, the coach of life as well as being the coach of footy and the football club.”

Much has been said and written about the coaching and playing style of Kennedy, and Parkin says that influence of the Hawks legend on the Club is profound.

Kennedy’s statue overlooks Hawthorn’s training base at the Ricoh Centre, and Parkin says whenever he visits the home of the Hawks, he is reminded of his coach’s place in history.

“It’s the man on which this footy club based its culture, the present day culture, the values that he bought and the behaviours he exhibited have given us the strength and foundation,” Parkin said.

“Every time I go to Waverley and see the great man’s statue out the front, I’m reminded of his place in the history of our game.

“[But] more specifically his place in the history of the Hawthorn Football Club.”

Parkin used four words to describe Kennedy’s make-up - selfless, team orientated, fair and caring.

“It was team first always,” Parkin said as he described Kennedy.

“It was selflessness in the sense of the team and the Club he had that great value.

“A very just and very fair person who did his due diligence, he’s the kind of person whose made very strong decisions on and off the field but also behaviour, what is acceptable and what’s not.

“A great capacity to care for, he had great empathy for those that he worked with.

“His players loved him because not only was he their coach, he cared about them as people.”

Those are the values that Parkin believes have built the foundations of the Club, and are the cornerstone of the current-day playing group’s culture.

“This club, more than any other club in the competition still holds that [caring] as a high value,” he said.

“We do think of ourselves as a family and we work at it to look after our people.”

All proceeds from “Kanga’s Roast” will be donated to Hawthorn Football Club’s Past Players and Officials Association.

John Kennedy is the gift that keeps on giving.

“He’s put himself out there, and I reckon he has because the cause justifies it,” Parkin said.

“[The foundation] will help players of my era, people who are in strife.

“It will be here forever so a person that has contributed here, and given something of themselves and falls on hard times in any way, then we might be able to assist that person as a part of the extended Hawthorn family.

“I think that’s a wonderful concept and to have the numbers that have turned up today like they have shows that they believe the same things.

“That is John’s way [to keep giving].”

Kate Salemme is a member of Hawthorn Football Club’s Digital media team reporting exclusively for hawthornfc.com.au from the Ricoh Centre.