BIO

John "Jack" Norman Tenison Woods was born in Adelaide on the 10th April, 1905. He was the youngest of four children, and the second son of Norwood Football Club legend, John Joseph (JJ) St. Eloy Woods and Elizabeth Bate.
 
John Norman was educated at Norwood Primary and Secondary schools and then Prince Alfred College (1920-21).
 
He was invited to join the Norwood Junior Football Club in 1921, and captained the side to the 1923 Kookaburra Football Association premiership.
 
At the end of the 1929 season he was awarded the H J Richards Medal, for the fairest and most brilliant player in the Amateur Football League A2 competition. He had been outstanding playing in the centre for Prince Alfred Old Collegians. Woods had originally been invited to join the Norwood Football Club seniors in 1929.

In 1931 he was a member of the State Amateur team which travelled to Melbourne.

A solid if small wingman/rover, capable of kicking with either foot, he showed plenty of promise in Norwood's 1932 pre-season trials and was expected to become a regular player in the side. He was named on a wing in his league debut for the club in the opening round of 1932.  Soon after, however he decided to return to Prince Alfred Old Collegians in the Amateur League.
 
A sporting all-rounder, he was a premiership member of the Norwood Junior Cricket Club (YMCA Cricket Association) in 1922-23, and was in the South Australian tennis squad which played Victoria in 1930.
 
In 1934 he married Mary Austin Gryst and about a year later was transferred by his employer, the Vacuum Oil Company, to Yorketown on Yorke Peninsula, where he continued to play sport and join in community affairs. His eldest daughter, Meredyth was born there.
 
In 1942 or early 1943 he was transferred back to Adelaide and the family settled in Kensington Gardens. They had three more daughters, two of whom survived - Christine and Maryjane.
 
In 1967 John and Mary moved to Aldgate in the Adelaide Hills
 
John Woods died on 5th December, 1971

R Cialini Dec 2018