The 'Elvis Presley' of rugby league

Future Sydney and Brisbane star, and Kangaroo Frank Drake went to school at Rozelle Christian Brothers College before leaving to become an electrician. 

From the creativewriter.com.au:

"While he was doing extremely well on the field, he was starting to receive some negative attention off it. The mid-to-late 1950s was a time when pop culture in America saw the birth of rock’n’roll in music and the rebellious anti-hero in movies. Elvis Presley was the undisputed ‘king’ of the new music craze. One of the biggest hit movies of this time was The Wild One, starring Marlon Brando as a motorbike-riding, leather-clad gang leader. When this culture started to have an impact in Australia, older citizens were horrified. Parents were worried that their children would start to act and dress like these stars, and that this would lead to juvenile delinquency. Frank rode a motorcycle, wearing leathers, ‘spaceman’ boots and gauntlets, and had long ‘Elvis-like’ sideburns. He was considered good-looking, and while he signed autographs for all kinds of fans before games, a significant percentage of them were young and female. He was the antithesis of how many in society thought a ‘decent young man’ should be.

"Frank was labelled as a nonconformist and therefore a ‘troublemaker’ by fans, game administrators and the media. One fan was overheard to say that he looked like a man from Mars in his motorbike- riding attire. When Balmain coach Johnny O’Toole banned him from riding his motorcycle, partly due to ‘safety reasons’ and partly because engine trouble sometimes made him late for games, Frank was not interested in complying. The media targeted him off the field like no other player, always looking for a negative slant on the guy with the three nicknames: ‘Twinkle Toes’, ‘Elvis Presley’ and ‘Sir Francis Drake’. All this attention ensured that he gained a measure of notoriety as the most talked about player in the Sydney competition."

And later:

"For some time, Frank had found the boots that footballers generally wore were cumbersome and uncomfortable – to the point where his toenails were black. As a high school track athlete, he had often worn running shoes. He thought he might try to be a bit innovative and put aluminium football studs on his track shoes instead of the spikes used for athletics, and see how they felt. After he did some running and training in them he loved the lightness and the comfort. He decided to wear them in the preliminary final. When he ran on to the field, old-timers were shocked. Harold Matthews, the secretary of the ARL, stormed into the dressing room and told Frank in no uncertain terms that his shoes did not meet the ‘dress code’. Frank calmly replied that he did not bring any other shoes. Matthews walked out of the room in a huff."

While Drake's hero was Cliver Churchill, the youngster wanted to change the fullback role and became the first "running" fullback in the NSWRL.