Dr John Fraser OAM, the Carlton Football Club’s Chief Medical Officer through the 1980s including the Premiership year of 1987, passed away at the age of 90.
Dr Fraser replaced Dr Richard Ward as Carlton’s chief medical officer in 1983 and served through to the end of 1990 when he was replaced by Dr Richard Ingram.
Stephen Gough, the then Carlton Football Manager (and later Chief Executive Officer) recalled that Dr Fraser joined the club on the recommendation of the Senior Coach David Parkin. In late 1985, when Parkin and the late Robert Walls switched Senior Coaching roles – Parkin from Carlton to Fitzroy, Walls from Fitzroy to Carlton - Dr Fraser remained at Princes Park and officiated on Grand Final day ’87 when the Stephen Kernahan-captained team overwhelmed Hawthorn in the searing heat on the MCG.
“Dr Fraser could be very abrupt, but he was a good fella,” Gough said.
“When we played in London, he took myself, Peter Rohde and it might have also been Adrian Gleeson on a tour of Wimbledon,” Gough recalled. “He took us to the court where he and Rod Laver played in the 1962 semi final of the doubles.
As fate would have it, John and Laver lost to fellow Australians and ultimate tournament winners Bob Hewitt and Fred Stolle in four sets in the semi-final; as did John’s brother Neale and Roy Emerson to the Yugoslavian pair Boro Jovanović and Nikola Pilić in the other semi.
Dr Fraser’s passing was acknowledged by Laver in a posting on X, which carried a rocket emoji and read: “Sorry to hear of the passing of Dr John Fraser. He had an extraordinary career as a player, a tennis administrator, and a GP specialising in sports medicine. We reached the Wimbledon doubles semis together in 1962. It’s been a long road, John, you made your mark alright. Go well mate”.
Incredibly, the Fraser brothers also lost the men’s singles semis at Wimbledon in 1962 – Neale to the eventual tournament winner Laver; John to another Australian Martin Mulligan.
The following year, Dr Fraser progressed to the singles quarterfinals of the Australian Open Championships, and over the journey won nine A-Grade Victorian Tennis Pennants for the Melbourne Cricket Club. He proudly represented his club and his state, carrying the values of Victorian tennis onto the world stage.
For his contributions to the sport, Dr Fraser was awarded the OAM for service to tennis at state, national and international levels through administrative roles, and to sports medicine.
As a former President of Tennis Victoria, former Vice President of Tennis Australia, and Tennis Australia and Tennis Victoria Life Member, Dr Fraser was, in keeping with a Tennis Victoria tribute, “a distinguished figure in Victorian tennis whose impact on our sport will be felt for generations”.
Beyond his achievements on court, John devoted his professional life to the care and wellbeing of athletes. After graduating from the University of Melbourne in 1958, he became a respected general practitioner and a pioneer in sports medicine. He served as the official doctor to the Australian Davis Cup team and as Honorary Medical Officer of the Australian Open from 1963 to 1998, supporting generations of players with quiet expertise and deep compassion.
He later contributed to the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Medical Commission from 1995 to 2003, playing a role in shaping the sport’s early drug testing framework and reinforcing integrity within the global game.
Such was Dr Fraser’s immersion in sport that he put his powers of recall to good use. As Gough recalled: “Way, way back before my time, he was a winner of one of the sports quiz shows – ‘Beat The Champs’ I think it was”.
Dr John Gavan Fraser OAM, who died on Valentine’s Day, was a beloved husband to Helen, father to five children and grandfather to fifteen.
