Harry Hooper
Personal information
Full name Harold Hooper
Date of birth (1933-06-14)14 June 1933
Place of birth Pittington, England
Date of death 26 August 2020(2020-08-26) (aged 87)
Place of death Hunstanton, Norfolk, England[1]
Position(s) Outside forward
Youth career
194?–1950 Hylton Colliery Juniors
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1950–1956 West Ham United 119 (39)
1956–1957 Wolverhampton Wanderers 39 (19)
1957–1960 Birmingham City 105 (34)
1960–1963 Sunderland 65 (16)
1963–1965 Kettering Town 68 (17)
1965–1967 Dunstable Town
1967–1968 Heanor Town
International career
1954–1957 England B 6 (2)
1955 England under-23 2 (2)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Harold Hooper (14 June 1933 – 26 August 2020) was an English footballer who played as an outside forward. He made more than 300 appearances in the Football League, and represented England at under-23 and 'B' international level.

Life and career

Hooper was born in Pittington, County Durham.[2] He played football for Hylton Colliery Juniors and for the Durham youth side[3] before joining West Ham United in November 1950 when his father, also named Harry Hooper, was appointed assistant trainer at the club.[2][4] He played for the reserve team in the London Combination before making his debut in the Football League on 3 February 1951, at the age of 17 years 7 months, at home to Barnsley in the Second Division. West Ham won 4–2, and Hooper himself came close to scoring eight minutes from time, when "Barnsley's Pat Kelly had to stretch like elastic to push Harry's 25-yard drive over the bar".[5][6]

The 1954–55 season saw Hooper make 41 league appearances for West Ham, one short of being an ever-present.[6] This included a game against Leeds United on the afternoon of his wedding. He was made captain for the day and West Ham won the game 2–1.[7] He played a total of 119 league games for the club, scoring 39 goals.[2]

Hooper, an England under-23 and England 'B' international, was named as a reserve for the 1954 FIFA World Cup squad but did not travel, and never won a full international cap.[2][8] He represented the Football League in games against the Irish League in 1954, and the Scottish League in 1955.[9] He also played for the London XI in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup group stage game against the Basel XI on 4 June 1955, a 5–0 victory.[lower-alpha 1]

Hooper moved to Wolverhampton Wanderers for £25,000 on 22 March 1956.[14] He scored 19 goals in 39 league matches for Wolves, before his departure in December 1957.[15] He then joined Birmingham City for a fee of around £20,000, spending nearly three years at the club and winning a runners-up medal in the 1960 Fairs Cup.[16] He scored five times in the competition, including a consolation goal in the 4–1 loss to Barcelona in the Final.[17]

In 1960, Hooper returned to the north-east, joining Sunderland for a fee of £18,000. He went on to play non-league football with Kettering Town, Dunstable Town and Heanor Town before retiring.[16]

Hooper died on 26 August 2020 after a long battle with Alzheimer's.[18][19]

Notes

  1. ↑ Some sources give the final goal to Hooper,[10][11] while others attribute this to Eddie Firmani.[12][13]

References

  1. ↑ "Harry Hooper 1933-2020 | West Ham United". www.whufc.com.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Harry Hooper". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  3. ↑ "Durham juniors for Stockton game". Sunderland Daily Echo. 17 October 1949. p. 12 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  4. ↑ "Hardwick move fixed". Sheffield Daily Telegraph. 6 November 1950. p. 6 – via British Newspaper Archive. Harry Hooper, former Sheffield United back who is at present coach and second team trainer to Hartlepools United, has been appointed assistant trainer by West Ham United.
  5. ↑ "Soccer stars on parade. Roar for Hooper". Daily Express. London. 5 February 1951. p. 6.
  6. 1 2 "Harry Hooper". westhamstats.info. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
  7. ↑ Hillier, Roger. "Tying Knots & Laces". theyflysohigh.co.uk. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
  8. ↑ Young, Peter (1 January 2018). "England in the World Cup - 1954 Final Squad". englandfootballonline.com. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  9. ↑ Hogg, Tony (2005). Who's Who of West Ham United. Profile Sports Media. p. 101. ISBN 1-903135-50-8.
  10. ↑ EC 1 & Fairs Cup 1595-1960. International Federation of Football History & Statistics. pp. 158–171.
  11. ↑ Velasco, Santiago. "Inter-Cities Fairs Cup 1955-58 (game details)". linguasport.com. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
  12. ↑ Zea, Anthony; Haisma, Marcel (2 October 2009). "Fairs' Cup 1955-58". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
  13. ↑ Almanacco Totale del Calcio Europeo 1958. pp. 31–32. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
  14. ↑ "Big Soccer Deals". Daily Herald. 23 March 1956. p. 27 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  15. ↑ "Wolves Make Youngsters". Sports Argus. 7 December 1957. p. 4 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  16. 1 2 Matthews, Tony (1995). Birmingham City: A Complete Record. Derby: Breedon Books. p. 98. ISBN 978-1-85983-010-9.
  17. ↑ Zea, Antonio; Haisma, Marcel (14 April 2016). "Fairs' Cup 1958–60". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
  18. ↑ "Harry Hooper 1933–2020". westhamtillidie.com. 28 August 2020.
  19. ↑ "Another sad loss". wolvesheroes.com. 29 August 2020.
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