Born: 26 April, 1907 – Little Rock, Arkansas, USA Died: October, 1971 Test record: 0 Tests Tours: 1930 tour of Australia
Versatile West Coast back Johnny Dodds had one of the more unique backgrounds of any Kiwi representative and toured Australia in 1930 with the New Zealand side. But he arguably achieved greater renown as a club and provincial coach.
Born in Little Rock, Arkansas in the United States, Dodds emigrated to New Zealand as a three-year-old.
Dodds represented South Island in 1927 and 1930-31, and played in seven matches for New Zealand on its 1930 trip across the Tasman, making appearances at centre, wing, halfback and his preferred five-eighth spot and scoring two tries.
He later played for West Coast against the 1932 English tourists.
Dodds coached Blackball to tremendous success and arguably enjoyed his finest hour as he guided West Coast to a historic win over Great Britain in 1946. He was also a New Zealand selector that year, while the great five-eighth Ces Mountford was among his West Coast proteges.