Lawrence Morgan

Lawrence Robert Morgan (5 February 1915 – 15 August 1997) was an Australian sportsman who is the only person to play VFL/AFL football and win an Olympic gold medal. He played his Australian rules football with Fitzroy during the late 1930s and won two gold medals in equestrian at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.

Morgan was born in the country and, as a child, raced horses over tree branches with his friend, fellow Olympic equestrian competitor Bill Roycroft. When he came to Fitzroy in 1937 he played in the same side as the great Haydn Bunton. He spent two further seasons at Fitzroy, both under coach Gordon Rattray, before leaving.

Morgan returned to the sporting scene in 1960, at the age of 45, when he competed for the Australian equestrian team at the Rome Olympics. Riding his horse 'Salad Days', Morgan won the Gold Medal ahead of countryman Neale Lavis in the Individual Three-Day Event to become the first Australian to win an equestrian gold medal. The former VFL player then teamed up with Lavis and Bill Roycroft to win Gold in the Team Event, best remembered for Roycroft's heroics in riding despite suffering concussion and severe injuries from a previous fall.

Although the Australian Olympic team consisted of big names like Herb Elliott, Dawn Fraser and Murray Rose, Morgan was the only dual gold medalist.

Morgan's biography, entitled Too Tough To Lose, was completed by his son Warwick Morgan, himself an accomplished horseman, and published in 2012 by Forty Degrees South Publishing (see External Links).

1937 Best First-Year Players In September 1937, The Argus selected Morgan in its team of 1937's first-year players.

Best First-Year Players (1937)BacksBernie Treweek(Fitzroy)Reg Henderson(Richmond)Lawrence Morgan(Fitzroy)H/BacksGordon Waters(Hawthorn)Bill Cahill(Essendon)Eddie Morcom(North Melbourne)Centre LineTed Buckley(Melbourne)George Bates(Richmond)Jack Kelly(St Kilda)H/ForwardsCol Williamson(St Kilda)Ray Watts(Essendon)Don Dilks(Footscray)ForwardsLou Sleeth(Richmond)Sel Murray(North Melbourne)Charlie Pierce(Hawthorn)Rucks/RoverReg Garvin(St Kilda)Sandy Patterson(South Melbourne)Des Fothergill(Collingwood)Second RuckLawrence MorganCol WilliamsonLou Sleeth