An Olympic 1500m gold medallist and the first runner to go under three minutes 50 seconds for the mile, Sir John has achieved another landmark with his inclusion in the Queen's Birthday Honours list.
He becomes the first New Zealander to be knighted since the National Government restored knights and dames this year.
Sir John had been against the previous Labour administration's move in 2000 to drop the titles.
He believed that had led to an honours system that the public didn't really understand.
It felt the likes of fellow champion athlete Peter Snell, rugby icon Colin Meads and acting star Sam Neill, all made knight-equivalents in the intervening years, didn't quite get the recognition they deserved.
"You have fine people who had achieved and could be an inspiration, and they have this honour that nobody actually understood," he said.
"Sir and Dame just gives that little bit of class."
Sir John, 57, becomes a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to sport and the community.
He said his reaction two months ago to being told that he was in line for the accolade was one of disbelief and he consulted his wife, Helen, before accepting.
Having to keep the news confidential in the weeks since had been difficult, especially in regards to their four children.
"The hardest thing we had to do was keep it from our kids because we discuss everything with them," Sir John said.
Now that they knew, "they're delighted".
The one big disappointment was that his late father, Roy, who had followed his running career with a passion, would not be able to share in the moment.
Sir John said the knighthood would help in raising credibility and funds for the Find Your Field of Dreams Foundation he set up last year.
The foundation aims to provide young people in south Auckland with the opportunity to engage in sport.
It was through sport that Sir John made his name.
He burst on the world stage at the 1974 Commonwealth Games in Christchurch, where he was pipped for the gold by Tanzanian Filbert Bayi in a remarkable 1500m race that ended with both men eclipsing the world record.
A year later, his place in middle-distance running history was confirmed when he broke the 3:50 barrier for the mile.
His time of 3:49.4 in the Swedish city of Gothenburg shattered by more than 1.5sec the previous best set by Bayi, and he went on to become the first man to accumulate 100 sub-four-minute miles.
His crowning moment came in Montreal in 1976, when he joined compatriots Jack Lovelock and Snell in becoming an Olympic 1500m champion.
The same year, he broke the 2000m world record, stopping the clock at 4:51.4 in Oslo.
That time remains a New Zealand national record, as do his 1982 marks of 3:49.08 for the mile and 7:37.49 for 3000m.
In 1992, Sir John was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his services to athletics.
Apart from Find Your Field of Dreams, his community work has included serving as a Manukau City councillor since 1998, despite having suffered from parkinson's disease for more than a decade.
While getting a knighthood was a major honour, he said winning Olympic gold remained the pinnacle for him.
It was his success on the running track that had allowed him to do other things, like his community work.
"Montreal is always going to be No 1," he said.
"That was the sport I played and I never set out to achieve a knighthood, I set out to achieve a gold medal."
