After a knee injury ended his playing career at age 25, he returned to coach Essendon to premiership success.

In 1981, the VFL named the Coleman Medal in his honour, awarding it to the League's leading goalkicker at the end of the home-and-away rounds.

Born at Port Fairy in the Western District of Victoria on 23 November 1928 to Albert Ernest Coleman (a manager) and his wife Ella Elizabeth (née Matthews), Coleman was the youngest of four siblings; his three older siblings were Lawna Ella, Thurla Margaret and Albert Edwin.

During the early war years, the family moved to Melbourne, where Coleman was enrolled at Ascot Vale West State School.

Two years later, in 1943, Coleman's mother took the children to live at Hastings on the Mornington Peninsula as her husband remained in the city to look after his business.

Coleman then divided his time between Melbourne, where he was a student at University High School, and Hastings, playing on Saturdays for the local football team which competed in the Mornington Peninsula League.

[2] Essendon first invited Coleman to train at the club in 1946, but they considered him too young to be able to play senior football.

His 12 goals in the first home-and-away match of a season also equalled the Essendon record set by Ted Freyer against Melbourne on 27 April 1935 Standing 185 cm tall, with a pale complexion and slight build, the 20-year-old Coleman did not appear at all imposing.

He looked listless as he stood in the goal square, often a metre behind the full-back, with his long-sleeved guernsey (number 10) rolled up to his elbows.

Then, with explosive speed,[8] Coleman would slip the guard of his opponent and sprint into open space on the lead or leap onto a pack of players to take a spectacular mark.

This innate ability to make position and his prodigious leap immediately caught the public imagination.

And don't forget he had to grab the ball when he got there and land safely.He usually converted from most of his set shots by way of a long, flat punt kick.

[9] Coleman capped his brilliant debut year in storybook fashion: he booted his one hundredth goal in the dying moments of a record Grand Final win over Carlton.

The next year, 1950, was Coleman's most prolific season, kicking 120 goals despite missing one match with the flu,[11] and he was a major factor in Essendon's premiership win over North Melbourne.

[13] Alf Brown of The Herald wrote: Ten years from now I will remember that glorious mark John Coleman took in the last quarter of the Essendon North Melbourne game.

Coleman, in an effort to lift his side, dashed down the field to take a spectacular mark about 70 yards (i.e., 65 metres) from goal.

In an unexpectedly one-sided grand final (many had thought that North Melbourne could win the rematch), with a rain-lashed third quarter, North Melbourne "went the knuckle", rather than playing football, and specifically targeted Essendon players Dick Reynolds, Ron McEwin, Bill Snell, Bert Harper, Ted Leehane and, of course, Coleman.

Often pitted against two, or even three opponents, Coleman's equilibrium could be upset by needling, jostling and physical contact, which often happened behind the play.

Despite specific instructions having been given to the umpires in relation to the protection of forwards from "interference" from opposing backmen,[17] and in the absence of any sort of protection at all from the field umpires,[18] these problems with Coleman's response to the ever-increasing level of provocation, abuse, headlocks, hair-tugging,[19] and thuggery came to a head quite sensationally when Coleman was reported in the last minutes of the second quarter of Essendon's last match of the 1951 home-and-away season against Carlton at Princes Park.

He went into the Essendon rooms, shouting with rage at the total absence of any protection from the match officials, took off his jumper, and spoke of not returning to the field.

He was finally persuaded to take the field for the second half, and once on the field, he was so "full of fire" that, according to the recollection of ruckman Geoff Leek, at the time resting in the forward pocket, he took two of the most amazing marks that Leek had ever seen: Coleman took off from behind, grabbed the ball feet above the pack, cleared it and landed with the ball in front of a mesmerised group of players.

[24][25] [Boundary umpire] Kent said he was in a forward pocket on the northern side of the ground when he saw Caspar strike Coleman in the vicinity of the chest.

On Saturday, 28 June 1952, in round ten of the 1952 season, at a very muddy (and narrow) Brunswick Street Oval,[30] Coleman played opposite the champion Fitzroy fullback Vic Chanter.

His attempts to return drew many headlines over the next two years, but, despite surgery, he was forced to concede defeat in the lead-up to the 1956 season.

[33] Coleman's feats were even more impressive by virtue of the fact that he achieved them at a time when the rules of the game were less favourable to full-forwards: between 1925 and 1939, a free kick was always awarded against the last team to play the ball before it went out of bounds, which resulted in teams of the era adopting a direct game plan which favoured strong full-forwards, thus it was an era which produced many of the league's heaviest goalscorers, including Pratt, Gordon Coventry, Bill Mohr and Ron Todd.

Football had interrupted his commerce studies at Melbourne University in 1949, but the game helped him to launch a career managing pubs.

After a disappointing first season when the team seemed to have trouble adjusting to his style, Coleman surprised many by leading the Bombers to the premiership in 1962.

[3] During his playing days, Coleman had developed a special loathing for umpires,[39] and they were often the target of his venomous tongue as a coach.

[2] Following his coaching career, Coleman moved to the Mornington Peninsula, buying a rural property at Arthurs Seat and running the Dromana Hotel.

Two days later, the opening round of the VFL season included a match held at Windy Hill between Essendon and Richmond, which in effect became a John Coleman memorial.