The international footballer was born at 23 Lord Nelson Street, South Shields, on 21 May 1921 and attended St Mary's school at Tyne Dock. He signed for Blackpool in 1938 and began a lifelong association with the club and the town. He made his league debut in 1946 and soon showed himself to be a fast and powerful striker, deadly both on the ground and in the air. He scored over 200 goals for Blackpool and famously partnered the great Stanley Matthews in the Blackpool forward line for many years, scoring a memorable hat-trick in the famous 1953 cup final against Bolton Wanderers.