Jack Nilson (footballer)

John Ivar Nilson (12 March 1919 – 31 October 1970) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Collingwood in the Victorian Football League (VFL).

Family
Nilson was of Finnish heritage and his mother, Suleima Elizabeth Siuro (c1893-1919), a domestic servant, tragically died in Melbourne, on 15 March 1919, from the 1919 influenza epidemic three days after his birth.

He was then adopted by Swedish immigrants, Bror Edvard Nilsson (a.k.a. Nilson) (−1956), and Ida Ingeborg Nilson (1882–1937), née Gröndahl (a.k.a. Greendale), who lived in West Brunswick.

He married Gwendoline Claire Johnson (1922–1985) on 11 April 1942. They had three children.

War service
Nilson also served in the 58th Battalion of the Second AIF during World War II.