John "Jack" King (1927-2009) is known for his many years as a civic activist in Rockaway.

Born in Brooklyn, at 17 he enlisted in the United States Navy and served in the Pacific during World War II for two years.

He was a big fan of baseball. In Brooklyn, he founded and coached a boys' baseball team at the Parade Ground. After moving his wife, Eleanor and children Jacqueline, Deborah, and Paul, to Rockaway in 1972, he coached his son's Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) baseball team for St. Francis de Sales Church, where he then helped build and eventually ran the baseball program for the parish. His son joined him as an assistant coach when Paul turned 18.

Jack's civic engagement expanded in the 1980s. Beginning as a block captain for the Belle Harbor Property Owners Association (BHPOA), he went on to serve there as its vice president and president. He was also president of the 100th Precinct Community Council, where he helped organize the first National Night Out Against Crime in Rockaway. Additionally, he helped found several civic organizations, including the Arverne Civic Association, the Rockaway Action Committee, and the Rockaway Park Civic Association, and was the chair of the Transportation Committee on Community Board 14.

Councilmember Eric Ulrich sponsored the naming of Jack King Way in June 2011, and the street was commemorated in October of that year. It is located at the corner of the block where the Kings purchased their first home in Belle Harbor, at 432 Beach 130th Street. Several houses on the block, including theirs, burned down during Superstorm Sandy in 2012.