Full name John Parkinson “Buzz”
Born 7 November 1944
Height and weight Height: 179 cm Weight: 79 kg
Senior clubs Claremont & Collingwood
Recruited from Claremont in 1971 and Collingwood 1972
Claremont played between 1963 – 1970 & 1972, 1973 156 Games and 235 goals
Collingwood 1971 3 games and 1 goal
Recruited from a local junior competition, John Parkinson made his league debut with Claremont in 1963. A slimly built, nimble rover, he was a prominent contributor to the following year four-point grand final victory over East Fremantle. His best season was 1967, when he tied with Bill Walker of Swans for the Sandover Medal, and was the winner of Claremont fairest and best trophy. He also topped the Tigers goal kicking list for the first of three times. Parkinson indeed was particularly renowned for his goal kicking prowess: he could snap goals from almost any angle, an ability honed under the attentive tutelage of coach Jim Conway, himself an acknowledged former master of the art.
In 1971, John Parkinson decided to try his luck with Collingwood, but a broken collarbone restricted him to just three senior VFL appearances. He returned to Claremont in 1972 and played two further seasons for a career total of 156 WANFL games. He also represented Western Australia three times, a total which would have been much higher had his career not coincided with those of such legendary rovers as Bill Walker and Barry Cable.
Author – John Devaney