Harry Parkes (4 January 1920 – 4 March 2009) was an English footballer of the 1940s and 1950s. Parkes was a one club man having only played for Aston Villa. He is widely regarded as one of Aston Villa's most popular players of all time.

Early life

Parkes was born in

Erdington Erdington is a suburb and ward of Birmingham in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Warwickshire and located northeast of central Birmingham, bordering Sutton Coldfield. It was also a council constituency, managed by its o ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

on 4 January 1920.

Football career

Parkes played in several positions including centre-forward, right-half, and winger, but he played his best football at full-back. He joined Aston Villa in April 1939 as an amateur from Sutton Coldfield club Boldmere St. Michaels. He turned professional in August 1939. He appeared for the club 345 times scoring 4 goals; plus another 144 wartime games. He missed only 12 League games in seven seasons from 1947 to 1954. He also sat on Aston Villa's board of directors in the 1970s. He was in line for an

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

call-up in 1946, but an injury meant he could not play, and he never got another chance to play for his country. His only honour with Villa was winning the League War Cup in 1944.

Post-football career

He retired from playing football in 1955 to concentrate on his sports shop in

Corporation Street, Birmingham Corporation Street is a main shopping street in Birmingham city centre, England. It runs from the law courts at its northern end to the centre of New Street at its southern. The creation of the street Planning The creation of Corporati ...

. At one time it supplied all the boots to the Villa team. The shop closed when Parkes retired in the mid-1990s. Harry died surrounded by his family members at his home in Solihull on 4 March 2009. Parkes was survived by his wife Marjorie and daughter Valerie and son Derek

References

External links

Obituary in ''The Independent''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parkes, Harry 1920 births 2009 deaths English footballers Boldmere St. Michaels F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Footballers from Birmingham, West Midlands Association football defenders