Kevin James Hector (born 2 November 1944 in

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

) is an English former

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 scored 268 goals from 662 appearances in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

playing for Bradford Park Avenue and

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 ...

. His 486 League appearances for Derby County is a club record. He also played in the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...

for the

Vancouver Whitecaps Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on Mar ...

, and was capped twice 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 ...

Career

After a successful start to his playing career in the lower leagues at Bradford Park Avenue, Tim Ward signed him for

in 1966 and he was a key player in their success under the management of

Brian Clough Brian Howard Clough ( ; 21 March 1935 – 20 September 2004) was an English football player and manager, primarily known for his successes as a manager with Derby County and Nottingham Forest. He is one of four managers to have won the Engl ...

and Dave Mackay over the next few seasons, forming a formidable partnership with

John O'Hare John O'Hare (born 24 September 1946) is a Scottish former footballer. O'Hare's clubs included Sunderland, Derby County, Leeds United and also Nottingham Forest and was part of their European Cup victory in 1980, coming on as a substitute i ...

. Hector played for the Rams for a total of 12 years, during which time they won the Football League First Division championship twice (the first time in 1972 under Clough and the second time in 1975 under Mackay) and 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 ...

championship (in 1969), and reached the semi-finals of the European Cup, 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 ...

and the League Cup. He left Derby for Vancouver Whitecaps and scored 15 goals for the Canadian outfit as they won the 1979 NASL title. After his time in North America he rejoined Derby in the early 1980s. He made a record 589 appearances for Derby in his two spells, 486 of which came in league games. In season 1965–66, whilst playing for Bradford Park Avenue, he scored 44 league goals in a single 46-game league season plus 6 goals in the first 4 league games of the following season prior to his transfer to Derby. Hector played twice for

, his debut coming as an 88th-minute substitute in the fateful

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

qualifier against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

in October 1973, when England, needing victory to qualify, were held to a 1–1 draw. With his first touch of the ball, he nearly won the game for England as his header from a corner was cleared off the line.

References

Hector's Football League career statsHector's FA profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hector, Kevin 1944 births Living people Footballers from Leeds English footballers England international footballers English Football League players Association football forwards Bradford (Park Avenue) A.F.C. players Derby County F.C. players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Vancouver Whitecaps (1974–1984) players Burton Albion F.C. players English Football League representative players English expatriate footballers Expatriate soccer players in Canada English expatriate sportspeople in Canada Boston United F.C. players Shepshed Dynamo F.C. players Gresley F.C. players Belper Town F.C. players Eastwood Town F.C. players Heanor Town F.C. players