As a young lad of 7, his grandfather, Richard Shelton, was saved from drowning in swollen Hughes Creek, Avenel by a young Ned Kelly, aged 10.
VFL Footballer
Recruited from the Avenel-Longwood Football Club, Shelton was a strong, brave, courageous, and talented footballer, able to kick well with both feet, who played at centre half-back for Essendon for 91 games, in six seasons, kicking two goals.
1959
Shelton came to Essendon, as a centre half-back, from Avenel in 1959. There were a number of delays in him getting a clearance from Avenel and a permit play from the VFL was not granted until 20 May 1959. Consequently, he was not eligible to play his first match for Essendon until the match against Geelong on 23 May 1959, when he was selected to replace the team's regular centre half-back, Jeff Gamble, who was injured and unable to play. Shelton was one of Essendon's best players in a team that beat Geelong by 30 points: 11.18 to 7.12. All in all, in his first season with Essendon, he played in seven senior home-and-away games, all three finals, including the Grand Final, where he played at centre half-back, in Essendon's 37 point loss to — 11.12 to 17.13 — earned three votes in the Brownlow medal, and won the award for Essendon's best first year player.
1962
In 1962, Shelton played representative football for Victoria in 1962: against Tasmania on 17 June, and against South Australia on 14 July, he played in Essendon's 1962 premiership team at centre half-back in a team that defeated Carlton by 32 points — 13.12 to 8.19 — and was runner-up, to John Birt, as Essendon's best and fairest player.
1964
He did not play for the entire 1964 season due to an extremely serious eye injury he suffered in November 1963, "necessitating serious operations and treatment" :
1965
Although only able to see out of one eye, he returned to Essendon in 1965, and was appointed the team's vice captain. He broke his hand early in the season, and was out for three games; and, later in the season, sustained a serious knee injury that kept him out of action for four matches. He finished his final season playing in 14 games; the last being his third Grand Final, and his second premiership team. On the day of the 1965 Grand Final, with a severe shoulder injury, Shelton was "in two minds as to whether to play because he didn't want to let the team down" by under-performing; however, "he was persuaded half an hour before the game by skipper Ken Fraser and the club doctor to take the field".
1966
He was released by Essendon in 1966, because they could not come to a mutually satisfactory arrangement for him to commute between Avenel and Essendon.
In 1958 he was playing with the Avenel-Longwood Football Club.
Seymour
He was captain-coach of the Seymour Football Club, in the Waranga North East Football League, from 1966 to 1969. He was coach of the Seymour premiership team in 1982.
Avenel-Longwood
He was captain-coach of the Avenel-Longwood Football Club in 1970, 1971, 1972, and 1974, and was the club's best and fairest in 1971 and 1972.
Awards
1959: Essendon Football Club — Best First-Year Player.
1962: Essendon Football Club — Outstanding Services Award.
1997: Essendon Football Club — One of Essendon's "Top 60 Players" from which the 25 members of the "Essendon Team of the Century" were chosen.
2005: Essendon Football Club — Life Membership.
2012: Seymour Football Club — Centre Half-Back in Seymour's "Team of the Century".
2012: Seymour Football Club — Coach of Seymour's "Team of the Century".
2016: Essendon Football Club — Centre Half-Back in Essendon's "Team of the Country".
