Robert Taylor Hesford (13 April 1916 – 15 June 1982) was an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played all his professional career as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. Th ...

Biography

Hesford was born in

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish people, Flemish weavers settled in the area i ...

. In 1950, Robert was teaching at Spring Grove Junior school in Huddersfield.. He was praised for his sportsmanship and skill in saving a penalty that was retaken at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

against Manchester United by J.P.W. Mallalieu in the ''Sporting Manners'' chapter of his book, ''Sporting Days''

Family

Three of Hesford's sons had successful sporting careers.

Bob Hesford Robert Taylor Hesford (13 April 1916 – 15 June 1982) was an English professional footballer who played all his professional career as a goalkeeper for Huddersfield Town. Biography Hesford was born in Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is ...

was an England

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

international;

Steve Hesford Steve Hesford (born 12 May 1954) is a former professional rugby league footballer who played for Warrington Wolves, Warrington and Huddersfield Giants, Huddersfield. His usual position was . Hesford holds the club record at Warrington for most ...

played

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

for

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

; and

Iain Hesford Iain Hesford (4 March 1960 – 18 November 2014) was an English professional footballer. He played as a goalkeeper for teams including Blackpool, Eastern, Sunderland and South China. Early career Hesford began his career at Blackpool, wher ...

was a goalkeeper like his father, playing for

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

and Sunderland amongst a number of clubs.

References

1916 births 1982 deaths Footballers from Bolton English men's footballers English Football League players Men's association football goalkeepers Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Stalybridge Celtic F.C. players {{England-footy-goalkeeper-stub