[2] On the 6 May 1933, Bob Quinn made his debut for Port Adelaide in Round 2 match of the 1933 SANFL season in a draw against Norwood at Alberton Oval.

In the 1934 SANFL Grand Final, Quinn was prominent from the early stages of the match and was involved in a "battle royale" with Glenelg's star rover Roy Colyer.

[8] In 1937, Quinn was runner-up in the Magarey Medal, won the club Best and Fairest and was Port's leading goalkicker with 51 goals in another premiership year.

Following a match for South Australia against Victoria in Adelaide in early July 1938, Quinn was offered a contract with VFL club Geelong (for which his brother Tom played).

[10] Later in the year, Quinn was reported to have changed his preference of VFL clubs to St Kilda, and was quoted as saying he had "definitely decided to go to Victoria" and that Port Adelaide had agreed not to oppose his transfer.

[11] At the start of 1939 both St Kilda and Geelong were both pursuing Bob Quinn sending scouts to Adelaide in addition to then Richmond secretary Maurie Sheahan also enquiring about his services.

Bob Quinn enlisted for the Australian Army in June 1940 as a Warrant Officer Class 2 while still serving as captain-coach of the Port Adelaide Football Club.

[13] Warrant Officer Quinn was ordered to take command of the 10th platoon and blow up a barbed-wire barrier and attack an enemy post from which a machine gun was inflicting heavy casualties...To blow up the barbed wire they had to jump out of a trench and lay a Bangalore torpedo, an explosive charge placed on the end of a long, extendable tube.

Under an unrelenting hail of fire, Quinn looked at his men in the trench and told them they were probably facing death, and how he would lay the last pipe, the most difficult of all because it was the closest to the machine gun.

[14] Despite serious injuries to his arm, leg, and face Quinn returned to Australia and resumed his footballing career despite early prognosis suggesting he would never play again.

[20] debuting playing 12 games and kicking 28 goals for a combined Port Adelaide/West Torrens side in a reduced SANFL competition due to the war.

[21] Quinn's injuries and years away from competition meant he was a slower player than in his pre-war career and was forced to change his playing style, running with the ball less and increased his use of handball.

Quinn started the season with an arm sound sustained in World War II[25] but showed that he lost nothing of his skill and determination, winning a second Magarey Medal with 45 votes, 17 ahead of second place Doug Olds of Norwood Football Club.

1945 also saw Haydn Bunton, Sr., one of the greatest Australian rules players of all time,[27] join Port Adelaide for his final season of football.

Sporting Life magazine named Quinn as the captain in the first concept of an All-Australian team with only three South Australian's selected in the side.

[32] Quinn's involvement with local teams led to his appointment as coach of the Yorke Peninsula Football Association in 1950[33] and South Australia at the 1953 Adelaide Carnival.

Quinn lasted five minutes before fracturing his pelvis after colliding heavily with an opponent and was forced to spend several weeks in hospital recovering.

[36] Following Quinn's death, fellow Port player and coach John Cahill praised his courage and charisma; "he had a presence, and for someone that achieved so much on and off the field he was so humble and quietly spoken".

[37] When Port Adelaide gained admission to the Australian Football League Quinn was named as joint number one ticket holder for 1997.

"[7] Tim Ginever, former Port Adelaide captain, stated regarding Bob Quinn that "If you talk to a lot of people of that era, they still say he's the best player of the footy club.