Background
Whiteley grew up during the Second World War in Hull. His house was hit by the biggest bomb to land in Hull during the war.
Whiteley grew up during the Second World War in Hull. His house was hit by the biggest bomb to land in Hull during the war.
He attended Gordon Street Junior School and Westbourne Street School for Boys.
A Great Britain international representative forward, and later coach, he played his entire club football with Hull. He left school at 14. At age 15, he joined Boulevard Police Boys" Club and was made property
Shortly afterwards he moved to Hull Boys" Club and played for the Hull under-16 representative team
At the age of 18, Johnny joined the Military Police, 14 months of which were spent in Vienna, Austria. He signed for Hull in 1950 for £100.
He played 15 seasons for Hull making 417 appearances and scoring 156 tries and 2 goals for at total of 472 points. In his time with Hull, he was never dropped.
Johnny Whiteley was selected for Great Britain squad while at Hull for the 1954 Rugby League World Cup in France.
However he did not participate in any of the four matches, with Dave Valentine playing as loose forward/lock in all four matches. Johnny Whiteley represented the Rest of the World in the 11-20 defeat to Australia at Sydney Cricket Ground on 29 June 1957. They lost in the Challenge Cup final to Wigan at Wembley in 1959.
Again Hull reached the cup final 1960.
He scored a match-winning try against the Aussies in the last few minutes which gave Great Britain the 1960 Ashes. Challenge Cup final appearances
Johnny Whiteley played loose forward/lock in Hull"s 13-30 defeat to Wigan in the 1959 Challenge Cup final during the 1958-1959 season at Wembley Stadium, London on Saturday 9 May 1959.
Whiteley became player coach in October 1963. Whiteley carried on coaching at Hull after his last appearance as a player.
When Roy Francis retired as Hull coach in 1965, Whiteley, now himself retired with an injured shoulder, took over, though he resigned in 1970.
He then moved to Warrington on 6 February 1965 until the end of the 1969/70 season. Whiteley moved across the river to Hull Kingston Rovers as coach in 1970 and stayed until 1972 when he was sacked. He left Hull on his return to coach Hull Kingston Rovers until leaving them in 1972.
He then carried on coaching the Yorkshire origin side for 12 years.
He was then recalled to coach Great Britain in 1980 for two years. After his career finished, he ran a gym in west Hull.
He later set up the West Hull amateur rugby league club He joined the Rugby Football League Roll of Honour in November 2004 having been nominated by both Hull and Hull Kingston Rovers.
He was made an Administration Member of the Order of the British Empire for services to rugby league and the community in the 2005 New Year honours list.
Johnny was a member of the 1958 Great Britain touring squad that retained the Ashes, and he scored a try in the 40-17 third Test success in Sydney. Whiteley was a member of the last Great Britain team to beat Australia on home soil in the 1959 test series, scoring the try that beat the Aussies that year.