Jack Titus

Australian rules footballer, born 1908

Jack "Skinny" Titus (9 March 1908 – 19 April 1978) was an Australian rules football player who played in the Victorian Football League (VFL) between 1926 and 1943 for the Richmond Football Club. In the golden era of the 1930s, Titus was one of the great forwards who regularly thrilled the crowds with spectacular goalkicking feats. A lightly built player who seemed at first glance to be too frail for the robust game of Australian football, Titus proved to be one of the great survivors of the game as he set the record for durability (most consecutive games played) that remained unbeaten for nearly a century. Titus continued to serve Richmond for decades after his retirement, a fact acknowledged by the Australian Football League (AFL), which annually presents the "Jack Titus Service Award" for outstanding service to the game.

Titus was originally recruited to Richmond from Victorian country club Castlemaine competing in the Bendigo Football League. (The pub was run by another Richmond player Kevin Morris during the 1980s). The VFL immediately named the recognition of service award after him. Also named in his honour is Richmond's runner up best and fairest award, the "Jack Titus Medal". In 1995, much interest centred on Jim Stynes' effort to finally break Titus' mark of 202 [originally thought to be 204] consecutive matches. Some had believed the record invincible, but Stynes eventually extended the mark to 244. Titus' playing number 12 was inherited by Matthew Richardson in the 1990s, who eventually broke Titus' record of eleven club goalkicking awards, another record thought to be safe. Titus was elected to the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 1996, and in 1998 he was named as full forward in the Richmond Team of the Century. He was an inaugural inductee into the Richmond Hall of Fame in 2002, where in 2019 he was elevated to 'Immortal' status. Jack did not have any children.