Rankin married Louisa Jane Johns in 1892, which lasted until her death in 1906. He married Adelaide Isabel Hyde in 1909.
Children
Two of his sons from his first marriage, Bert Rankin and Cliff Rankin, were captains of the Geelong Football Club ; and both were selected to play for Victoria in 1923. A son from his second marriage, Doug Rankin, also had a brief but successful career with the club, playing just nine senior games in two seasons.
Grandchildren and great-grandchildren
His grandson, Graeme O'Donnell played for both Geelong and North Melbourne in the VFL. His great-grandson, Gary O'Donnell played 243 games with Essendon, and served as its captain in 1996 and 1997. His great-granddaughter, Georgie Rankin, plays for Geelong in the AFL Women's competition.
Football
Described as a skilful rover, who ran with a stoop, and was noted for his football nous, accurate kicking and stamina, Rankin was recruited from the Riversdale Football Club in the Geelong and District Football Association by the Geelong VFA team in 1891. He played his first match for Geelong's senior team was against South Melbourne on 27 June 1891, when he replaced the injured wingman, Charlie Wheatland, in the selected side. He was one of Geelong's best players. He was a member of the inaugural Geelong VFL side that played Essendon on Saturday, 8 May 1897. Rankin’s career spanned 20 seasons of football for Geelong. During the VFL part of it, he captained Geelong in 15 matches, played 180 games and kicked 35 goals. He did not play at all in 1898 due to typhoid, but returned to the side in the next year and appeared in every season until his retirement in 1910, but by then, in the backline. All up, he played 268 games for Geelong, a record which stood until 1979, when Sam Newman broke it; for many years, it was incorrectly believed to have beaten in 1939 by Reg Hickey. He represented Victoria three times. In 1903 he won the Geelong Best and Fairest award. During this season he also became the first Geelong player to reach 100 VFL games. During his prime, Rankin declined offers to transfer to a number of other clubs. He was an advocate of amateurism, arguing against the emerging practice of player payments.
Many credit Rankin with being the first player in the league to touch the ball on the ground, rather than bouncing it. Although many modern accounts situate the event in the 1890s, it seems certain that, on the account of Gerald Brosnan, a former Geelong team-mate or Rankin, it happened during the time that Brosnan was playing for Fitzroy, that it happened at the Brunswick Street Oval, that it took place on an extremely wet day, and that Jim D'Helin was the umpire:
After football
After football, Rankin was caretaker at the Corio Oval for about eight years, until he was replaced by Arthur Rayson c.1924. He was employed as the head groundsman at the Geelong College from 1904 to 1941, and as the Principal's gardener from 1941 to 1944. He also coached the College's First XVIII from 1905 to 1921.
Death
He died, in a private Geelong hospital, on 31 July 1944.
Honours
A set of memorial gates were erected in his honour at Geelong College in 1953.
In 2018, the Geelong football club awarded Rankin the status of "Club Legend"; the twenty-fifth former player to be so honoured.
