A graduate of the University of Western Australia, Fitzpatrick interrupted his football career to study at St. John's College, Oxford, on a Rhodes Scholarship.
Outside his commercial interests, Fitzpatrick served on the board of the Carlton Football Club from 1989 to 1995, and as chairman of the Australian Sports Commission from 1994 to 1997.
[1] He attended Churchlands Senior High School from 1966 to 1970 (including as head boy in his last year),[2] and went on to study at the University of Western Australia, graduating with a Bachelor of Engineering degree in 1975.
[7] After the end of the season, Fitzpatrick moved to England to study at St. John's College, Oxford, having been named Western Australia's 1975 Rhodes Scholar.
After graduating from Oxford with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, Fitzpatrick resumed his football midway through the 1978 season, although he had time for only two games that year.
[6] He recorded 13 disposals, five marks, and 18 hit-outs in the grand final victory over Collingwood,[8] and at the end of the season was awarded the Robert Reynolds Trophy as Carlton's best and fairest player.
Prior to the 1980 season, Fitzpatrick was appointed club captain in place of Peter Jones, who retired from playing in order to become head coach.
[9] Fitzpatrick made his state debut for Western Australia at the 1972 Perth Carnival, aged 19, as a reserve for Bob Beecroft against Tasmania.
[12] At the end of the 1983 season Fitzpatrick retired from football and began working as an adviser in the John Cain government's Victorian Treasury Department.