James Harold Smith (6 December 1930 – 7 January 2022) 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 lea ...

who played as a winger for

Shildon Shildon is a town and civil parish in County Durham (district), County Durham, in England. The population taken at the 2011 Census was 9,976. The town has the Locomotion Museum, due to it having the first , built in 1825, and locomotive works on ...

, Chelsea and

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club, commonly referred to as Orient, is a professional association football club based in Leyton, Waltham Forest, London, England. The team compete in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. ...

. At the time of his death on 7 January 2022, aged 91, he was Chelsea's oldest surviving player, succeeded by

Len Casey Leonard Casey (born 28 January 1950), also known by the nickname of "Cast Iron Casey", is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, and coached in the 1980s and 1990s. He played at represe ...

References

1930 births 2022 deaths English men's footballers Footballers from Sheffield Men's association football wingers Shildon A.F.C. players Chelsea F.C. players Leyton Orient F.C. players English Football League players {{England-footy-midfielder-1930s-stub