George Heppell (2 September 1916 – 20 July 1993) was an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

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 ...

who made 213 league and cup appearances for

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

either side of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. His father-in-law,

Albert Pearson Albert Pearson may refer to: * Albert J. Pearson (1846–1905), U.S. Representative from Ohio * Albert Pearson (footballer) (1892–1975), English footballer * Albert H. Pearson (1920–1963), American farmer and politician * Albie Pearson Al ...

, and great-grandson, Tom Conlon, both also played for Port Vale.

Career

Heppell joined

from

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

in May 1937. He made 25

Third Division North The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated to ...

appearances in the 1937–38 season, as goalkeeping duties were split between himself and James Nicholls. However, he played just three

Third Division South The Third Division South of The Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to on ...

games in the 1938–39 season, as new signing

Arthur Jepson Arthur Jepson (12 July 1915 – 17 July 1997) was an English first-class cricketer who played for Nottinghamshire before becoming an umpire. In addition to cricket he was also an accomplished football goalkeeper who played over 100 games in t ...

became the club's first choice goalkeeper. Heppell was enlisted into the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

in February 1940. Despite this he managed to guest for

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

and

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

during

, before returning to Port Vale following his

demobilization Demobilization or demobilisation (see spelling differences) is the process of standing down a nation's armed forces from combat-ready status. This may be as a result of victory in war, or because a crisis has been peacefully resolved and militar ...

in January 1946. He was an ever-present during the 1946–47 season, as his form convinced the club to sell Jepson to

rivals A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant o ...

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

. He remained Gordon Hodgson's first choice goalkeeper, playing 40 games in the 1947–48 campaign. He played 38 games in the 1948–49 season, ahead of reserves

Ray Hancock Charles Raymond Hancock (16 February 1925 – 20 April 2007) was an English Association football, football Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. He was Ken Hancock's elder brother. He played for Port Vale F.C., Port Vale between 1948 a ...

and Harry Prince. However, he then lost his place, and played just three games in the 1949–50 season as new signing Ray King proved to be in impressive form. He featured 17 and 28 times in the 1950–51 and 1951–52 seasons, before being handed a free transfer away from Vale Park by new boss Freddie Steele in May 1952. He later played

Cheshire County League The Cheshire County League was a football league founded in the north west of England in 1919, drawing its teams largely from Cheshire, surrounding English counties and North Wales. Initially the league was dominated by the reserve teams of Footba ...

football for

Witton Albion Witton may refer to one of several places in England: *Witton, historic name of an area of Northwich, Cheshire **Witton Albion F.C. *Witton Gilbert, County Durham *Witton-le-Wear, County Durham *Witton, an area of Blackburn, Lancashire * Witton, B ...

, featuring in 18 games during the 1952–53 season.

Personal life

His father-in-law was

, who played for Port Vale and

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

from 1914 to 1922. Heppell's great-grandson, Tom Conlon signed with Port Vale in 2018.

Career statistics

Source:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heppell, George People from Wingate, County Durham Footballers from County Durham English men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. wartime guest players Middlesbrough F.C. wartime guest players Witton Albion F.C. players English Football League players British Army personnel of World War II 1916 births 1993 deaths British Army soldiers Military personnel from County Durham