He won 3rd Best and Fairest for Collingwood Reserves team, playing on the wing, but due to the competitiveness of the team he made just one appearance in the seniors, a win over South Melbourne Football Club at Lake Oval, a debut he shared with Doug Searl.
The following year, he transferred to Fitzroy Football Club and after playing well in the Reserves, he again won a place in the senior team, this time as a rover, but after two games was ruled out for the rest of the season with a badly damaged hand.
[3] Coach Alan Joyce immediately recognised his ability and selected him in the centre for the senior team after seeing him play one game in the reserves.
On leaving Northcote High School in 1962, Telford pursued his love of sport and physical education and completed a Diploma in Physical Education and Trained Secondary Teachers' Certificate at University of Melbourne to begin a teaching career at Glenroy Technical School in 1966.
In 1979, his PhD thesis titled Cardiorespiratory properties of trained and untrained subjects and specificity of athletic performance evaluation was completed at the University of Melbourne.
[7] Whilst studying for his PhD, Telford was invited to look after the Victorian Sheffield Shield Cricket team as Manager and Coaching Coordinator.
John Bloomfield stated Telford was an excellent choice to establish sports science at the AIS as he was a talented exercise physiologist as well as competent distance running coach.
Telford appointed Robert De Castella, as a sport science technician and he later went on to become a world class marathon runner.
Telford played a major role in raising the profile of the AIS and sports science through the development and advertising promotion of two products.
In 1986, Kellogg's launched the Sustain breakfast cereal, Telford played a major role and was prominent in television advertisements.
[6] In 1988, Telford and AIS nutritionist Vicki Deakin worked with Goodman Fielders to develop the Gold Medal bread.
Leading Australian distance runners coached by Telford include – Commonwealth Games gold medalists Andrew Lloyd and Kate Anderson, as well as Carolyn Schuwalow, Susan Hobson, Benita Willis, Sisay Bezabeh, Martin Dent, Nicky Carroll, Mizan Mehari and Lisa Corrigan.