The Young Brothers – Maurice, Garry & Graham

By Peter Haby / Hawks Museum

On September 18, 2020, Graham Young, the youngest brother to Maurice and Garry, celebrated his 80th birthday without the company of his two older brothers due to Covid restrictions. The brothers, Maurie, now 84 and Garry, 82 recently met with Graham to celebrate this milestone belatedly. To mark the occasion, they had a photo taken together mirroring a now famous photo taken during their first training session together.

In 1955, three brothers from Boronia were invited to training at Glenferrie. After their first training session, coach Jack Hale called a players’ meeting. The possibility of missing the last train home to Boronia looked like an even bet. So when Hale closed the meeting and the three brothers dashed to the door, committeeman Ron Cook halted them and insisted they take a taxi home at the club’s expense. Next morning, Cook phoned to see if they got home safely. This was the clincher, and the Hawks gained the Young family’s lifelong commitment to the Brown and Gold. The three brothers, all six-footers, Maurice a ruckman aged 19, Garry a full-forward aged 16 and Graham, a back pocket player aged 15 signed with the Hawks.

Maurice Young

Debut Number: 469
Born March 7, 1937
Guernsey 8
First game: Round 2, 1956
Final game: Round 18, 1960
Games: 71
Goals: 59

Prior to joining Hawthorn, Maurice Young played football with Swinburne Technical School alongside future Hawk star John Peck and enjoyed Premiership success in 1952, 1953 and 1954. He also played for his local club, Boronia.

Few Hawthorn players have made their debuts in such a memorable game as Maurice Young. That Friday’s Sun reported how he and brother Garry, himself playing in the 2nds at this stage, stayed up listening to the radio on the Thursday night, in an attempt to hear the named side. It did not look like being a memorable match at Punt Road when the Hawks trailed Richmond by 25 points at three quarter time. However, the Hawks stormed home with 7 goals to a solitary point, which Monday’s Sun described as “the best burst of all-field play the Hawks have produced for many years”.

Maurice Young developed into a very strong follower with an impressive vertical leap when palming the ball to his rovers. He appeared in all 20 games in 1957, winning the Most Improved Player Award and was considered one of the best players in the club’s first ever Finals’ appearance, the First Semi Final against Carlton. In the second half of the season, his younger brother, Garry also secured a place in the side and so the Young family had two representatives in the club’s first Finals’ team.

During Maurice’s era many players had day jobs that required Saturday morning work. His father owned a chain of cinemas and Maurice worked as a projectionist at the Boronia Picture Theatre, which meant he worked on a Saturday night. With the advent of television his father sold the cinema business and Maurice became an owner-driver working for Hawthorn Taxi Trucks, undertaking Saturday morning work. Delivering crumpets was usually part of his round, and Young would sometimes have only crumpets as his pre-game lunch.

In 1961 his father arranged for Maurice to move to Western Australia, securing him both employment and a contract with East Perth Football Club. Maurice was reluctant to go, especially as his wife was pregnant with twins. After initially refusing Maurice a clearance, the premature birth of his twins was the reason that Hawthorn finally granted him the clearance on hardship grounds.

Maurie does not enjoy fond memories of his time in WA as he and his wife struggled with their young family without support from family or friends. To further his disappointment, East Perth lost the 1961 Grand Final to Swan Districts in one of the biggest upsets in WAFL Grand Final history while his brother, Garry and other former teammates achieved Hawthorn immortality by winning the Club’s first VFL Premiership.

Maurie spent two years in Perth, returning to Melbourne for the start of the 1963 football season. He was wanting to return to Hawthorn, but it was not to be. He still holds firm in the belief that he may have been of some value to the Club with his knowledge of how to compete against ‘Polly’ Farmer, then playing for Geelong. He had previously been a teammate at East Perth, learning how to play against Farmer at training in 1961 and with this experience, Maurice still considers that the results may have been closer in the 1963 Grand Final.

However, Maurice spent 1963 playing for Oakleigh in the VFA under the coaching of Collingwood legend, ‘Alby’ Panna. He later played with great success in country Victoria, being a member of premiership teams at Moe in 1967 and Eaglehawk in 1968, and he also coached Heyfield.

After his playing days ended, Maurice took on coaching junior teams. His son, Mark was runner-up in the Warragul & District Junior Football League Best and Fairest to a player called Gary Ablett Snr. Mark Young did not pursue a VFL career but won a best and fairest in the Barossa Valley Football League in South Australia and later played in Cairns. Mark’s twin sister, Annlynn, was an
A-Grade netballer.

Garry Young has done it all at Hawthorn. He played in the first senior premiership in 1961, he was a club runner, a selector, a coach, served on the committee (board), a long serving member of the Past Players and the Family Day committees. Garry’s great interest in the club’s history saw him become a foundation member of Hawks Forever in 1992 and with his knowledge and network led to the beginnings of the Hawks Museum. In all, 64 years of continuous service for his beloved Brown and Gold, receiving Life Membership in 1965.
When Garry was serving on the Club Committee, he indelibly left his mark on the club in another way when he, along with fellow committeeman, Harry McCurry, visited the local library and consulted the book, Dictionary of Foreign Phrases and Quotations edited by H P Jones. They chose the quote, ‘Spectemur Agendo – Let us be known by our actions,’ which served as the Club’s motto until 1982 when the term ‘The Family Club’ was adopted. However, the Past Players and Officials Association and the Hawks Museum continue to use ‘Spectemur Agendo’ as their motto.
When first recruited to Hawthorn, Garry was considered too short for a key position. He defied the odds and gave sterling service, playing many fine games at centre half-forward and centre half-back. Six weeks after his older brother, Maurie’s debut in 1956, Garry made his debut in Round 8 against Carlton when he was only 16 years and 11 months.
In 1958, Garry topped the VFL Reserves’ goal-kicking for the third consecutive season and played in the Reserves’ Premiership, the club’s first VFL premiership at any level, contributing four of the team’s seven goals in the hard earned four-point victory against Collingwood.
A somewhat fiery redhead known as G-man, he was renowned for his awkward approach to kicking a football that frustrated many a teammate and supporter. However, Garry was to write his name in the club’s history books as a key member of the 1961 Premiership side. He had an outstanding Second Semi Final against Melbourne, kicking Hawthorn’s first goal at the 23-minute mark of the opening quarter. Garry was the leading kick-getter with 22 and was the unanimous choice for ‘best on ground’.
On Grand Final day itself, Garry recalled that the team was probably a “bit anxious” and that this accounted for an unusual amount of fumbling in the first half. At half time, the team was worried, but also knew the game was still there to be won. He remembers his emotions when the goals came during the final term making victory secure and he knew that “history is in the making”. It was a different era with “no punching the air”, but winning a Flag was a “great feeling”.
In 1963, he suffered serious injuries in both games against reigning premier, Essendon. He copped three broken ribs in the opening round loss at Glenferrie, forcing him to miss five games and then in Round 12, an injury to his larynx meant missing six games. Garry returned for the Finals and was in the best players in both the Preliminary Final win against Melbourne and the Grand Final loss to Geelong.
By that time, Garry had had changed jobs and was working as a sales representative at Bill Patterson Motors in Ringwood, selling Holdens. He had also married Judy, had a daughter, Katrina, and was living in the same Forest Hill street, Barter Crescent, as his Premiership teammates, John McArthur and Ron Nalder. Then, on a Saturday night in April 1965, he faced the most serious moment of his life, as the Essendon injury curse struck even more severely than in 1963.
A heavy clash with an Essendon big man left him with what was later diagnosed as a perforated bowel with peritonitis complications. Young battled on for a quarter before leaving the field, never to return. Initial medical assessment saw him sent home, but fortunately his wife Judy, who was a nurse, decided that he should go to Box Hill Hospital, a decision which probably saved his life.
The injury at Essendon was a disappointing end for a player who was still only 25 years old. His only subsequent hands-on role with a team came some years later. He was operating a small business in Healesville when enticed into coaching the local footy team, which he did for three seasons, including a premiership win.
Forever the clubman, Young was one of the driving forces behind the highly successful 50thanniversary of the 1961 premiership in 2011. He oversaw the production of the DVD, which accompanied the book, The Brown ‘n Gold Jubilee. He followed this up by assisting with the highly successful 60th Anniversary of the 1958 and 1959 Reserves Premiership teams.
When Garry puts out the call to be involved, all his teammates respond as “true friends and mates”. It underlines for him how much of a privilege it is “to be connected with this great football club, Hawthorn.”

Garry Young

Debut Number: 473
Born July 10, 1939
Guernsey 31
First game: Round 8, 1956
Final game: Round 2, 1965
Games: 108
Goals: 164
Premiership 1961
Reserves Premiership 1958
Leading Goal kicker 1959 (35), 1960 (36)
Life Member 1965

Graham Young

Born September 18, 1940
Hawthorn Third 18 1957-1959
Vice-Captain 1959
Games: 45 (Approximately)
Camberwell FC 1960-1965
Games: 61

The Young brothers had grown up following North Melbourne and in a recent interview, Garry gave an evocative description of his father taking the boys in a Bedford truck from the Boronia U16s, still in their footy gear, across town to Arden Street, often arriving at quarter time.

Their father, Maurie Snr, took a great interest in his son’s footballing careers from when they first started with the Boronia Football Club with Graham playing in his first premiership with the Under 16’s in 1955. When Graham, then aged 15, signed up to join Hawthorn’s Third 18, Maurie Snr took on the role of the President of the Third 18, which was run independently from the senior body of the Hawthorn Football club at that time. The Third 18 had its own committee and group of volunteers to raise the funds necessary to run a football club. The guernseys worn on game day were hand-me-downs from the senior club.

Graham was very big for his young age, standing 6ft 2in and weighing 14 stone. He was considered a potential ruckman, resting in defence. Under the guidance of coach Vivian Randall (1934-1938, games 73) a former star player from the Mayblooms era, Graham developed into a more than a handy player, being named as vice-captain of the Third 18 in 1959. His father worked in the Picture Theatre industry and was very interested in films. He had his own movie camera. He took colour footage of the Thirds, with Graham seen to advantage in a game at the Lakeside Oval against South Melbourne. This film holds great significance with early footage of a number of players who would eventually play with the senior team including Reg Poole and Trevor Randall.

Graham started a career in hairdressing, which required him to work on a Saturday. This didn’t allow any time for football. To continue playing, Graham left Hawthorn in 1960 and signed with the Camberwell Football Club, which played in the VFA. To combat falling attendances at VFA games, the Victorian Government granted permission for the VFA to play on Sundays. This move proved to be very successful for the VFA until the VFL started playing Sunday games in 1982, which led to the demise of this once popular football competition.

Graham played 61 games as a ruckman with Camberwell from 1960 through to 1965. He is very proud that he was selected in represent the VFA in State football against Tasmania in 1962. Of great interest to historians of the game, Hawthorn’s first Ingenious player, Cyril Collard played 8 games roving to Graham that year.

In 1967, when living in North Blackburn, Graham rekindled his interest in football watching local team North Blackburn Methodists. This led him to resume playing for three years, winning the Best and Fairest Award in his second year. Graham then assumed the role of captain and coach in his third year, winning the 1969 Premiership against St Johns Methodists in the Eastern Suburbs Protestant Churches Football Association E Grade. He then hung up his boots.

After running his hairdressing salon in North Balwyn for 22 years, he sold it to his wife, Glenys who ran it for another three years. Graham then took on a job as a Service Officer at La Trobe University for 18 years, retiring in 1998. Graham passed on an observation about his two brothers: ‘They chased the football and I waited for the football.’ The brothers, Maurie, Garry and Graham continue to follow the fortunes of the Mighty Hawks, with lengthy, animated discussions after each game.