John F. Stephenson

John Stephenson
Personal information
Full name	John Francis Stephenson
Date of birth	14 May 1937
Date of death	14 October 2014 (aged 77)
Place of death	Chelsea, Victoria
Original team(s)	Benalla
Height/Weight	184 cm / 85.5 kg
Playing career^1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
1958	Carlton	1 (0)
^1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1958 season.

John Stephenson (14 May 1937 – 14 October 2014) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Carlton in the Victorian Football League (VFL).^[1]

The son of Jack Stephenson, who also played for Carlton, he was recruited from Benalla, but only played a single league game in 1958.^[2]

In October 2014, Stephenson was killed when the Van's RV-6 light aircraft he was piloting crashed in a house in the Melbourne suburb of Chelsea.^[3] In 1989 he was a passenger on United Airlines Flight 811, where 9 people died after being blown out of the plane when the cabin door failed mid flight. Stephenson was seated 11 rows behind where the fuselage was breached.^[4]

Notes

1. Holmesby, Russell; Main, Jim (2009). The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers: every AFL/VFL player since 1897 (8th ed.). Seaford, Victoria: BAS Publishing. p. 795. ISBN 978-1-921496-00-4.
2. De Bolfo, Tony (24 October 2014). "John’s romantic return carries even greater poignancy".
3. Devic, Aleks (15 October 2014). "Homemade aircraft in fiery suburban crash tops accident figures". Herald Sun.
4. Thackray, Lucy; Smith, Leesa (15 October 2014). "REVEALED: Pilot killed when his light aircraft hit a house survived being sucked out of a passenger jet when cargo door was ripped off mid-air 25 years ago".

External links

• John F. Stephenson's statistics from AFL Tables
• John Stephenson's profile at Blueseum