Carlton premiership legend, Champion Data founder, Ted Hopkins dies aged 74

Premiership hero Ted Hopkins with Blues legend Syd Jackson at the 2021 Carlton life members luncheon. (Supplied: Carlton Football Club)

Carlton’s Ted Hopkins, who won the VFL premiership with the club in 1970, has died aged 74.

The rover-turned forward is famous for sparking a stunning second-half revival in the 1970 decider against Collingwood, coming off the bench as the Blues overcame a 44-point deficit to win the flag.

Hopkins scored three of Carlton’s seven goals in a phenomenal 10-minute burst at the start of the third quarter, adding another in the fourth quarter as Carlton won by 10 points in front of a record crowd of 121,696.

Thrown into the fray by legendary coach Ron Barassi, the Blues all-out attack spurred what remains the greatest recovery in a grand final in VFL/AFL history, with Hopkins chaired off the field at the end of the game.

That was Hopkins’s 28th of just 29 senior VFL appearances for the Blues, with his retiring before his 21st birthday.

Already a prodigious sportsman — Hopkins was a two-time Australian junior water skiing champion — Hopkins was drafted out of Moe in the Latrobe Valley.

After working his way up from the under-19s and the reserves, Hopkins made his debut against Fitzroy at Princes Park in 1968.

Such was the depth of Carlton’s squad at that time, Hopkins spent the majority of his senior career at the club on the bench.

His football impact did not end with his time at Carlton, though.

In 1995, Hopkins founded data analysis service Champion Data, which was one of the first companies to compile match statistics from AFL matches.

Following his retirement, Hopkins became a national park ranger at Falls Creek, playing local football for Albury and then Yallourn in the Latrobe Valley.

He also released a series of books and wrote articles on football, but suffered health problems in recent years, including mitochondrial disease.

He is survived by his daughter Erica, who paid tribute to her father on the Carlton website.

“Dad was so lovely and kind. He was wonderful father,” Erica said.

“He was really smart, creative, and he did a lot of different things. He stayed close to football through his involvement with Champion Data and his connection with Carlton.”

Hopkins’s death comes two months after premiership coach Barassi died aged 87.

He is the fourth player of Carlton’s 20-player premiership squad in 1970 to pass away following Vin Waite (2003), Sergio Silvagni (2021) and Neil Chandler (2022).