It is with sadness that we acknowledge the passing of Mulgrave legend John Gunther.

John passed this morning after a short illness. He was 91 years of age.

The Gunther family has been a huge part of Mulgrave since the club’s earliest years. Our first home ground, where we started playing 100 years ago, was on the Gunther family property in Police Road, where Waverley Gardens Shopping Centre now stands.

John first took the field for Mulgrave in the 1950s, making an immediate and enormous impact. He won five senior best-and-fairest awards (1957, 1958, 1959, 1964 and 1965), a club record which stood until 1989 when Darren Linkins collected his sixth trophy.

John was also part of our 1960 premiership team, which defeated Scoresby by 11 points in the Grand Final at Boronia Park. It was the club’s fourth senior premiership in nine seasons. The seniors would finish as runners-up in 1961 and 1962.

Underlining his brilliant ability and playing record, John was this year named in the centre in the Mulgrave Team of the Century - fitting recognition for a champion player.

“Pa loved his footy, but mostly, he loved Mulgrave. He was never short of a story of his days there,” said John’s granddaughter Rebecca.

The thoughts of all at Mulgrave are with the entire Gunther family and those who knew John.

Our players will wear black armbands this Saturday in his memory.

Rest in peace