Vote for Yorkshire’s Greatest... Sports people

FROM those who have captivated millions on the big screen to those whose talent has shone on the cricket pitch and others whose ideas have changed the world, Yorkshire son’s and daughters, have a long tradition of excelling on the world stage, but who is the greatest of them all?

In the third of a new series where you decide who wins the ultimate accolade, we are looking to crown the greatest sporting Yorkshireman or woman to have ever lived,

CRICKET is what Yorkshire’s famous for, though after this disastrous season it might be best not to boast too much.

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Our list of sportspeople could have been composed almost entirely of cricketers, but some would point out that being best in the world of cricket still means that most of the planet will never have heard of you.

When Anita Lonsbrough was bringing home Olympic gold she’d beaten competitors from all round the globe.

So apologies to such as Brian Close and Ray Illingworth, whom I’ve left out, and welcome to the only Tyke Scottish rugby legend, a world-beating Leeds athlete and a man who left a huge impression on cricket without ever playing a test match.

I’d have great difficulty separating football managers Brian Clough and Herbert Chapman for their achievements, but I think they both edge out Middlesborough’s Don Revie.

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There are two great players here, as well, but please read the story of Ebenezer Cobb Morley – you might think him most important of them all.

(Voting has now closed)

1, BERYL BURTON

ONE of the most remarkable women in sport, cyclist Beryl Burton won seven world road race and pursuit titles and was British national pursuit champion on 13 occasions while taking the road title a dozen times.

What makes her stand out in any sport involving strength and endurance was her distance of 277.25miles for the world 12-hour record . For two years this was better than the men’s record for the same event.

Born in 1937 in Leeds, she and her family lived in Morley where there is a memorial garden to her. There’s also the Beryl Burton Cycleway from Harrogate to Knaresborough.

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Made an MBE and then an OBE, Beryl won more than 100 titles, set records for events over 25, 50 and 100 miles and for 25 consecutive years won the title of British Best All-Rounder.

Unfortunately she was 47 by the time cycling was made an Olympic event. Beryl died whilst out cycling in 1996.

2, HERBERT CHAPMAN

Born at Kiveton Park, Rotherham, in 1878, he was never more than a journeyman player, but as a manager he revolutionised the game.

Huddersfield were league champions in consecutive years after Chapman took the reins in 1921and also won the FA Cup. At his first club, Northampton Town, he had won the Southern League title.

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He introduced tactics that were new to the game, better training techniques and the use of physiotherapists and masseurs.

Poached by Arsenal, who were richer but had never won a trophy, he repeated his Huddersfield feat and, at his sudden death from pneumonia in 1934, left a team that would go on to dominate that decade.

During this time he became, also, England’s first professional manager – though he wasn’t allowed to pick the team!

Always ahead of his time, Chapman championed the use of floodlights, numbered shirts and European matches.

3, GORDON PIRIE

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THE Guinness Book of World Records once calculated that this runner from Leeds had run 216,000 miles in a 40-year career that lasted until 1981; the greatest mileage ever.

At the Olympic Games Pirie never quite lived up to his potential taking silver at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and bronze at Stockholm four years later in the 5,000 metres.

But outside the Games, he set five world records and was English cross country champion on three occasions – an honour that meant a lot more in those days than it does now.

His exploits made him immensely popular and in 1955 he was BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

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A thinker as well as a runner, Pirie advocated putting the toes down first when striding out and co-operated with footwear designer Adi Dassler (he created Adidas) to create special shoes for this style of running.

Born in 1931, he died in 1991.

4, IAN McGEECHAN

Yes he’s a Scottish Rugby Union legend, but Sir Ian as he now is, was born in 1946 in Headingley.

Educated locally, he played for Headingley and taught geography and sport at Fir Tree Hill Middle School in Leeds.

For Scotland he won 32 caps at fly half and outside centre and captained the team on nine occasions. He also won eight caps for the British Lions, until his playing career was ended by a knee injury.

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In 1988 he coached Scotland to a rare Grand Slam in the Five Nations Championship and was head coach of the British Lions on five occasions which saw a particularly memorable victory over South Africa in 1997.

Made an OBE and then knighted in 2010, in club rugby he’s taken the top job at Bath, Gloucester and Wasps with whom he won the Heineken Cup.

5, ANITA LONSBROUGH

“Even when I was stood on the podium I was thinking I hope this isn’t a dream.”

The words of York-born teenager Anita Lonsbrough after winning the gold medal at the 200m breaststroke at the 1960 Olympics in a world record time.

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Lonsbrough was one only two British gold medallists that year and, as a result, at the 1964 Tokyo games she became the first woman to carry the team flag.

Born in 1941, she learned to swim in India where her father served in the Army. Returning to Yorkshire she joined the Huddersfield Borough swimming club, but was never more than an average freestyle swimmer.

Turning to breaststroke, she became a world-class performer almost immediately and her career saw her win seven golds, three silvers and two bronze medals in Olympic, Commonwealth Games and European Championships.

Awarded an MBE she is married to Olympic cyclist High Porter.

6, WILFRED RHODES

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AGED 52, a record, when he played in his last test match, cricketer Rhodes could look back on a career adorned with records..

Born at Kirkheaton, near Huddersfield in 1877, he is said to be the only man to have appeared in more than 1,000 first class matches while another record was the 4,187 wickets he took in his career.

Originally picked as a bowler, Rhodes’ batting improved so much during his 58 test matches that, beginning as a number 11 he eventually opened the batting, setting records for both first wicket and last wicket stands in the process and batting in all 11 positions.

He did the double of 100 wickets and 1,000 runs in one season an incredible 16 times – another record.

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Rhodes scored 2,325 test runs and took 127 wickets. For Yorkshire he accumulated more than 30,000 runs and 3,600 wickets.

Poor sight and eventual blindness marred his later life.

7, SIR LEONARD HUTTON

IN only his sixth test match and against the might of Australia, Hutton made the world record score of 364 runs. It was to be two decades before that total was bettered.

But Hutton had been seen as a batting prodigy long before that. He’d been coached by the great Herbert Sutcliffe, who predicted he’d open for England, made a Yorkshire debut at 17 and an England one only four years later.

Hutton was born in 1916 in Fulneck, a religious settlement of the Moravians, near Pudsey and was playing for a local club from an early age.

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World War Two not only interrupted his career it also left him badly injured, losing a couple of inches from his left arm.

Luckily he was right-handed and overcame this set-back to go on to captain England – winning back the Ashes in 1953, playing in 79 tests and scoring almost 7,000 runs.

8, GEOFFREY BOYCOTT

“SIR GEOFF” and “Greatest Living Yorkshireman” are just two of the nicknames bestowed on one of the best batsmen England has seen. But, throughout Boycott’s career, immaculate batting has gone hand-in-hand with controversy.

The records speak for themselves: the first England batsman to pass 8,000 runs, the first English player to average more than 100 in a season, 151 first class centuries and more than 48,000 runs.

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Born in 1940 at Fitzwilliam near Barnsley, the right-handed opening batsman made his test debut against Australia in 1964 and played his last test in 1982. Few in Yorkshire will forget that 100th 100 made before adoring crowds at a Headingley test.

He’d have had more caps if he hadn’t fallen out with an England management who overlooked his claims to become captain.

In recent years his no-nonsense style has made him one of the most effective summarisers in broadcast cricket and his never-say-die attitude has seen him beat cancer.

9, EBENEZER COBB MORLEY

HIS name has been almost forgotten, but there’s a strong case for saying that Morley was one of the most influential men in sporting history.

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Born at Garden Square in Hull in 1831, he became a lawyer and enjoyed playing football. At that time teams played by different rules, playing one team’s version in each half.

Morley wrote to a prominent publication suggesting that the game needed a governing body and common rules. This led to him becoming a founding member of the FA in 1862.

A year later he chaired a group which wrote the rules we know today – based on rules drawn up in Sheffield and in the process outlawing running with the ball and such things as nails sticking out from boots. So the modern game was born.

In 1871 he produced the rules for the FA Cup, the world’s first major football competition.

10, GORDON BANKS

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MENTION Banks and you think THAT save; diving downwards and backwards in the 1970 World Cup as Brazil maestro Pele seemed certain to score.

Pele himself described it as the greatest save he had ever seen.

Banks’ proudest moment came four years earlier when he was part of the team that brought England its only World Cup.

“Safe as the Banks of England” was a regular back page headline in those days when he was regarded as the best goalkeeper in the world. He was Football Writers Player of the Year in 1972.

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Banks was born in Sheffield in 1937 and his club career took him from Chesterfield to Leicester and then to Stoke, meaning his domestic honours were limited to the League Cup in 1964 and 1972.

A car crash in 1972 cost him the sight of his right eye and effectively ended his career.

11, FRED TRUEMAN

“Kid yourself it’s Sunday reverend and keep your hands together,” fast bowler Trueman shouted to the Rev. David Sheppard who had just dropped two catches off him.

The remark, against Australia, displayed the famous Trueman wit which, allied to a never-say-die attitude enamoured him to the cricketing public as much as it alienated him from the cricketing authorities.

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Born only yards from the Nottinghamshire border in 1931, he made his Yorkshire debut in 1949. Three years later it was England and a sensational start. After 14 balls the score was India 0 – 4, three of the wickets falling to the newcomer.

He went on to become the first bowler to take more than 300 test wickets, his formidable fast bowling earning him the nickname “Fiery Fred”.He’d have taken many more if the selectors had not dropped him for his indiscretions.

He retired in 1969 and died in 2006.

12, BRIAN CLOUGH

HOW many football managers become the subject of a film? Larger-than-life Clough did just that with “The Damned United” focusing on his 44 unhappy days at Leeds.

As a centre forward he was lethal, scoring 204 goals in 222 appearances for Middlesbrough and Sunderland and winning two England caps before a cruel injury cut him short.

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At 29 he was the league’s youngest manager at Hartlepool alongside his colleague and inspiration Peter Taylor. Then came Derby County, a struggling second division outfit - soon they were in the top flight and champions.

One of his famous falling-outs and then came Brighton and Leeds. Finally Nottingham Forest beckoned.

Once again a second flight team won promotion and then became champions, this time going on to win the European Cup in 1979 and 1980.

Clough was born in Middlesbrough, then Yorkshire, in 1935. He died in 2004: controversial to the end.

13, THOMAS LORD

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ALTHOUGH not the greatest cricketer, Lord is known far and wide because the world’s most famous cricket ground bears his name.

Born at Thirsk in 1755, Lord was brought up in Norfolk where he became a useful bowler and moved to London to join the prestigious White Conduit cricket club as both player and general assistant.

In the latter role he was asked to find a new ground for the club, which he did at Dorset Square where the MCC was founded.

After 20 years he had to look for another place to play as the area had gone downhill socially.

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Lord’s choice of a field in St John’s Wood did not last long as that land was needed for the construction of a canal.

In 1814 he moved again, not far this time, to the present day Lords. In 1829 Lord sold the ground for the then enormous sum of £5,000 and retired to Hampshire.

14, KEVIN KEEGAN

THE little man with the Brillo pad haircut was not just a great player, but a man who could motivate fans like few others.

At Liverpool as a player and Newcastle as a player then manager he became a huge favourite; his skill united with enormous enthusiasm.

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Born at Armthorpe, Doncaster, in 1951, his local team turned him down but he caught the eye of Scunthorpe.

Spotted by a Liverpool scout, Keegan signed for Liverpool and the great Bill Shankly in 1971 winning three league titles, an FA Cup and the European Cup. For England he won 63 caps and scored 21 goals.

It was a shock when he moved to Hamburg in 1977, but Keegan worked his magic taking them to their first league title and a European Cup Final appearance. In 1978 and 79 he was named European Footballer of the Year.

Later he managed Newcastle, Manchester City, Fulham and England.