Recently the Hawks Museum received a generous donation from the family of former player, the late Peter Hancock - his Debut Tie 404.
The museum has since framed Hancock’s Tie, along with a photo of him playing on Glenferrie Oval and has now been placed on display.
Hancock played from 1950 to 1952 for 26 games and 16 goals.
Previously the museum had received Neil Pearson’s framed Debut Tie 343, which also included his Life Members Certificate and Tie.
Pearson played from 1945 to 1954 for 133 games, he kicked 44 goals and won the Gardiner Medal in 1954.
He holds a special place in the story of the museum as the first player to step forward to donate several trophies back in 1992 to what is now known as the Club Collection.
His Debut Tie 343 can be seen on display above the turnstile that houses the Visitors’ Book.
The numbered Debut Tie was conceived by the Club’s Football Welfare officer, Simon Lloyd, now GM of Football at Geelong.
He drew inspiration from the recent Australian Test decision to record in numerical order all the players who had played at least one Test match for Australia.
The AFL did not hold records such as the Debut Order for the various VFL/AFL clubs.
Thus, the task of preparing a list of the players in debut order began by going through the newspapers at the State Library as there were no such reference points like today’s AFL website, Wikipedia, or AFL tables.
When starting the Debut list from 1925, the captain Jim Jackson was given the honour of the Debut Tie number 1 as it was agreed, with HFC Board approval, that he would have led the team out onto the ground in Hawthorn’s first game.
The vice-captain Paddy Burke was given Debut Tie number 2, with the rest of the team listed in alphabetical order.
From then on it was somewhat easier, but very time-consuming to work out the correct order for when the players played their first game.
To date eight players have made their debut with Hawthorn in season 2023, taking the Debut Order tally to 965 - Karl Amon, Fergus Greene, Lloyd Meek, Cam McKenzie, Seamus Mitchell, Max Ramsden, Joshua Weddle and Bailey MacDonald who is the 965th player to make his debut.
The Missing Hawks, the search continues
The search for the Missing Hawks began in 2002 when the club honoured the players who had played at least one senior VFL/AFL game with a special numbered Club Tie that recorded their debut order.
At the inaugural HFC Hall of Fame in March 2003, held at the Tennis Centre, the Club only had contact with 271 players from a possible 816.
The Hawks Museum was given the task to find either the 545 players, or their families in order to present them with their Debut Ties.
150 new players have been added to the initial list, with eight players making their senior debut so far in 2023.
The debut list now totals 965.
There are 20 Missing Hawks
If you can help, please contact the Hawks Museum at hawksmuseum@hawthornfc.com.au or phone 0427455723.
Booth, Frank 1939
Brown, Bill J 1926-28
Browne, William E 1928
Clements, Leo 1933-34
Farrelly, Geoff 1933
Hansen, Fred 1930
Hickey, Geoff 1934-35
James, Syd 1923
Lyons, Joe 1938
Metcalfe, Barry 1957
O’Brien, Dermott 1928
O’Halloran, John 1929
Skipper, Wayde 2010
Smith, Vin 1927
Trafford, Bernie 1926-27
Turner, Harold 1934
Whelham Russell 1945
Wilkins, Matt 1929
Woolfe, Vin ‘Willie’ 1928-31
Young, Leo ‘Gus’ 1939-40
