John O'Keeffe (Gaelic footballer)

John O'Keeffe, born on 15 April 1951 in Tralee, County Kerry, is a retired Irish Gaelic footballer who played club football for Austin Stacks and represented Kerry at senior level from 1969 to 1984. He is remembered as a stylish and accomplished full-back, and the sources that rank Gaelic football's greatest players regularly place him in their full-back line. His father Frank also played for Kerry, in the 1947 All-Ireland final held at the Polo Grounds in New York. At school he helped St Brendan's of Killarney win its first Hogan Cup in 1969, and at third level he won three Sigerson Cup titles with University College Dublin between 1972-73 and 1974-75. For Kerry he won seven All-Ireland Senior Football Championship medals and 12 Munster medals, alongside seven National Football League medals and eight Railway Cup medals. He received five GAA All Stars awards and was named Texaco Footballer of the Year in 1975. A serious hip complaint ended his playing career after the 1984 Munster final, and he later managed the Irish international rules team.