John William Anslow Bowers (22 February 1908 – 4 July 1970) was an English

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 was twice the top scorer in the Football League and made three appearances for

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 ...

Playing career

Early days

Bowers was born in Low Santon, near

Scunthorpe Scunthorpe () is an industrial town and unparished area in the unitary authority of North Lincolnshire in Lincolnshire, England of which it is the main administrative centre. Scunthorpe had an estimated total population of 82,334 in 2016. A ...

and, after playing for Scunthorpe works side Appleby Works, started his professional career with

Scunthorpe & Lindsey United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. The side currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The te ...

in December 1927. Five months later, he was transferred to

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 188 ...

, where he was to remain until 1936.

Derby County

He was signed for Derby County by manager

George Jobey George Jobey (July 1885 – 9 May 1962) was an English football player and manager. He won the league championship as a player with his hometown club Newcastle United. Career Jobey was born in 1885 in Heddon, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and played ...

on 5 May 1928, on the same day as future England international

Jack Barker John William Barker (27 February 1906 – 20 January 1982) was an English footballer who played 327 league games for Derby County and won 11 England caps. He later managed Derby County and Bradford City. Playing career Derby County Born in ...

. He made his debut in a 2–1 win over Bolton Wanderers at the Baseball Ground on 2 February 1929 and celebrated his first appearance by scoring. It was not until the

1930–31 Year 193 ( CXCIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sosius and Ericius (or, less frequently, year 946 ''Ab urbe condit ...

season that Bowers was to become a regular selection at centre forward after the transfer of Harry Bedford to Newcastle United. His first match in this season came against Arsenal, which launched Bowers on the way to breaking the club's goal-scoring record. Having sat out the first nine matches of the season, Bowers scored 37 goals in the remaining 33 matches, including four in one game against

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

when the Rams beat the Londoners 6–2. He scored 15 goals in a run of six consecutive matches in January and February 1931. This magnificent spell of goal-scoring was the main reason why Derby reached sixth place and, for most of the season, were sitting on the edge of the leading pack. Bowers holds Derby County's record for the number of League goals in a season (37), although this was equalled by Ray Straw in the

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 ...

campaign of 1956–57. The following season, he was again Derby's top-scorer despite only scoring 25 goals, but improved on this in 1932–33 with 35 league goals, thus making him the top scorer in the Football League First Division as Derby finished in seventh place in the table. Bowers also contributed eight goals in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

as Derby reached the

semi-finals A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

where they lost to Manchester City. This was the only round in the cup run in which Bowers failed to score, as he finished the season with a total of 43 goals from 47 matches. This remains Derby's goal-scoring record. His form continued into the next season, when he was again top scorer in the top flight with 34 league goals, plus three in the cup, with Derby reaching fourth place in the

table Table may refer to: * Table (furniture), a piece of furniture with a flat surface and one or more legs * Table (landform), a flat area of land * Table (information), a data arrangement with rows and columns * Table (database), how the table data ...

. In the first six games of the season, he became the only Derby player to twice score in six successive matches; this run included two hat-tricks. His form for Derby brought him to the notice of the

selectors and he was given his first international cap in the

1934 British Home Championship Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 Nepal–Bihar earthquake strikes Nepal and Bihar with a maxi ...

against

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

played at

Windsor Park Windsor Park is a football stadium in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is the home ground of Linfield F.C. who own the land the stadium is built on, while the Irish Football Association own and operate the stadium and pay Linfield an annual renta ...

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

on 14 October 1933. Bowers scored England's third goal in the 60th minute in a 3–0 victory. He retained his place for the next match against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

on 15 November, but failed to score as England went down 2–1. As this victory enabled Wales to claim the British Home Championship title, Bowers' next match against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

was to have no bearing on the destiny of the title. Bowers scored in the 85th minute as England defeated the Scots 3–0. Bower also made two appearances for the Football League representative team. In September 1934, a serious knee injury sustained in a match against Spurs curtailed his Derby career and he lost his place to

Hughie Gallacher Hugh Kilpatrick Gallacher (2 February 1903 – 11 June 1957) was a Scottish football player in the 1920s and 1930s. In 624 senior games, Gallacher scored 463 goals, playing senior league football for Airdrieonians, Newcastle United, Chelsea, D ...

. His recovery was slow, although in 1935–36 his 30 goals for the Reserves helped Derby to the

Central League The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League in the annual Japan Series. It currently consi ...

championship. He returned to the side for the start of the 1936–37 season; on 5 September 1936, Derby were losing 4–1 at home to Manchester United, when Bowers struck with four goals in an amazing 15-minute spell (between the 64th and 79th minute) to give his side a spectacular 5–4 victory. By now he was no longer first choice and in November 1936 he moved to

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

for a fee of £6,000. In his eight years with Derby, he made 220 appearances, scoring 183 goals. Only

Steve Bloomer Stephen Bloomer (20 January 1874 – 16 April 1938) was an England international footballer and manager who played for Derby County – becoming their record goalscorer – and Middlesbrough. The anthem " Steve Bloomer's Watchin'" is played at ...

and

Kevin Hector Kevin James Hector (born 2 November 1944 in Leeds) is an English former footballer who scored 268 goals from 662 appearances in the Football League playing for Bradford Park Avenue and Derby County. His 486 League appearances for Derby County i ...

have scored more goals for Derby.

Leicester City

Bowers joined Leicester City in November 1936, who had been relegated to the

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third t ...

in 1935. His arrival at

Filbert Street Filbert Street was a football stadium in Leicester, England, which served as the home of Leicester City F.C. from 1891 until 2002. Although officially titled the City Business Stadium in the early 1990s, it remained known almost exclusively by ...

galvanised Leicester's push for promotion and his 33 league goals from only 27 games helped them claim the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

title, just ahead of Blackpool, and also made him top scorer in the division. Back in the First Division, Bowers was now finding goal-scoring more difficult and he was sharing the goal-scoring responsibilities with Danny Liddle and George Dewis. The advent 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 opposing ...

interrupted his career and he retired in August 1943. In his three League seasons, he scored 52 goals in 79 appearances, plus four goals in five FA Cup appearances.

Later career

In August 1943, Bowers was appointed coach to

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 25 November 1862, it is the ...

, working with the youth team. After two years, he returned to Derby County as assistant trainer, a position he held for over twenty years. He and his wife lived on Pear Tree Road (No. 59), not far from the Baseball Ground, where they kept a shop. He died on 4 July 1970 in

Lichfield Lichfield () is a cathedral city and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated roughly south-east of the county town of Stafford, south-east of Rugeley, north-east of Walsall, north-west of Tamworth and south-west o ...

, Staffordshire.

Family

His son John Bowers, Jr. played for Derby County between 1957 and 1966, making 65 League appearances in that time. Bowers is the first cousin twice removed of

Keith Lindsey Keith Lindsey (25 November 1946 – 12 February 2003) was an English professional association football, footballer who played at Defender (association football), right-back for Scunthorpe United F.C., Scunthorpe United, Doncaster Rovers F.C., D ...

and Barry Lindsey, two other Scunthorpe players. The Lindseys are connected through their maternal grandmother's line.http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=kendall1&id=I0533

Career statistics

Appearances for England

Achievements

;

*Top scorer in 1st Division 1932–33 season: 35 goalsFootball League Div 1 & 2 Leading Goalscorers 1920–39
*Top scorer in 1st Division 1933–34 season: 34 goals *Club record for total goals in one season: 37 goals in 1930–31 season ;

*Top scorer in 2nd Division 1936–37 season: 33 goals *

champions: 1936–37

References

;General * Mortimer, Gerald (2004): ''The Who's Who of Derby County'' Breedon Books Publishing, Derby. * Mortimer, Gerald (2006): ''Derby County: The Complete Record'' Breedon Books Publishing, Derby/ * Rollin, Jack (1998): ''Rothmans Book Of Football Records'' Headline Book Publishing, London.
Profile at www.englandstats.com

Profile at www.englandfc.com
;Specific {{DEFAULTSORT:Bowers, Jack 1908 births 1970 deaths Sportspeople from Scunthorpe English footballers Association football forwards England international footballers Scunthorpe United F.C. players Derby County F.C. players Leicester City F.C. players English Football League players First Division/Premier League top scorers English Football League representative players