Sporting Heroes

Sporting Heroes

Football

Viv Anderson MBE

Viv Anderson, born in Nottingham in 1956, broke through taboos to become the first black player to represent England. Viv Anderson played more than 400 games for Nottingham Forest before leaving the City Ground in 1984. He was an integral part of Brian Clough's team during their heyday and was in the side that won the European Cup in 1979. In 1997, 96% of Forest fans voted Viv Anderson as the team's best ever right-back, and in January 2000 he was awarded the MBE for services to football.

Gary Birtles

Born in 1956 in Nottingham, Gary Birtles joined Manchester United in late 1980 from Nottingham Forest for £1.25 million. With two European Cup Winners' Medals to his name from the previous two seasons, Gary joined United with a growing reputation. He'd made his international debut only a few months earlier.  Gary is best known for his time at Nottingham Forest, during which he won the 1979 and 1980 European Cup Finals. He was also capped three times by England.  He now appears on local radio and writes regularly for various local publications. 

Andy Cole

The Nottingham born striker, joined Manchester United in January 1995 for a British record transfer fee of £6million. Cole broke Dennis Law's European goal scoring record (14) when netting a hat-trick against Anderlecht in the Champions League in 2000. He currently plays for Manchester City. On 4 July 2008, Cole signed a 12-month deal with Nottingham Forest, his 12th club, and hometown club from childhood. On 11 November 2008, Cole announced his retirement from football, bringing an end to a 19-year career.

Nigel Clough

Nigel Clough was born in Sunderland in 1966. Son of the legendary Brian Clough, Nigel made his name at Nottingham Forest under the management of his father and had a very impressive strike rate for a midfield player of a goal nearly every three games. He transfered to Liverpool for over £2m in 1993 and signed for Manchester City in 1996. He retired shortly after the start of the 1998-99 season and turned his hand to the management of Burton Albion football club. Over the next decade Clough took Burton up from the seventh tier of the English football league to the brink of promotion to League Two before leaving halfway through the 2008-09 season to follow in his father's footsteps and take over at Derby County.  Nigel also gained 14 full England caps.

Roy Dwight (9 January 1933 - 9 April 2002)

After 61 years without a trophy, Nottingham Forest reached the FA Cup final on 2 May 1959. It was quite a day for the Reds player. He put them ahead after nine minutes but half an hour later was stretchered off after breaking his leg in a tackle. He watched the rest of the game from a hospital bed but had firmly staked his place in Forest's history pages as the Reds won 2-1.

Darren Huckerby

Darren was born in Nottingham in 1976. On loan at Nottingham Forest during 2002-2003, the striker only played 11 games for his hometown club. He's also played for Lincoln, Newcastle United, Coventry City, Leeds and Manchester City. After retiring from football in 2009. Huckerby returned to playing football in the Masters Tournament in June 2011 playing for his old club Leeds United.

Stewart Imlach (6 January 1932 – 7 October 2001)

The Scottish international appeared in the winning Nottingham Forest line up in the 1959 FA Cup final against Luton Town. A left winger, he won ‘man of the match’ and was known as “The Rabbit” due to his incredible speed. He represented Scotland in the 1958 World Cup. He died in 2001 aged 69. A book about Stewart Imlach, 'My Father and Other Working Class Football Heroes' (ISBN 0-224-07267-6), written by his son Gary, won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year 2005. In 2009 a street of new houses in his home town of Lossiemouth - Imlach Way - was named in his honour.

Jermaine Jenas

Born in Nottingham, Jenas plays midfield and is a former England under 19 captain. He began his career at Nottingham Forest where he immediately impressed during the 2001/02 season. After a single season at Nottingham Forest, he was sold to Newcastle United for £5 million in February 2002. It was the second most expensive transfer involving a teenager at the time. He now plays for Tottenham Hotspur and has a contract with them until 2013.

Seamus McDonagh

Notts County goalkeeper between 1983 - 1984, McDonagh also played for Ireland, Bolton, Sunderland and clubs in the USA. He is currently working for Plymouth Argyle F.C as a goalkeeping coach after leaving his position as goalkeeping coach at Aston Villa in August 2010.

Stuart Pearce

Pearce's early career saw him under the tutelage of Bobby Gould at Coventry City and then Brian Clough. It was at Nottingham Forest that Pearce spent most of his time, becoming a legend for club and country. He established himself as an uncompromising defender with a cannon shot (gaining the nickname "Psycho"). He became captain in 1987 and in the same year earned the first of 78 England caps which made him a household name. He spent more than ten years at Forest, most of it as club captain and briefly also as player manager, a caretaker role he held while the club found a long-term boss.

Jermaine Pennant

A gifted midfielder, Pennant started playing football at his hometown Notts County FC. He made his debut against Sheffield United coming on as a substitute at the age of 15. After just two league games for Notts County he signed for Arsenal in a £2million deal.  Jermaine joined Portsmouth on loan before leaving to join Spanish side Real Zaragoza in 2009. His time in Spain was overshadowed by disciplinary problems. He returned to the Premier League for the 2010–11 season signing on loan at Midlands club Stoke City. Following a successful loan spell he signed a permanent contract at Stoke in December 2010.

Chris Sutton

Born in Nottingham, but nominated The Scottish Footballer of the Year in the 2003-04 season. In his career, Sutton played for Norwich City, Blackburn Rovers, Chelsea, Celtic, Birmingham City and Aston Villa. Sutton scored over 150 career goals in over 400 league appearances spanning 16 years in the English and Scottish Premier Leagues. He was capped once by England. In September 2009, Sutton was appointed manager of Lincoln City, but he resigned due to personal reasons in September 2010.

Des Walker

Des established himself as a centre-back at Nottingham Forest when he joined the club as an apprentice. And manager Brian Clough had him playing regularly for the first team aged just 20. Walker made his international debut in June 1989 and totalled 59 England caps. His first spell at Forest lasted from 1983 - 1992, and he then played for Sampdoria and Sheffield Wednesday. Walker returned for the 2002 - 2004 seasons and made almost 60 more appearances for Forest, nearly a decade after he'd left them. He retired at the age of 38 with a total of 354 appearances for the club to his name - and one goal.

Dave Watson

Dave was brought up in Stapleford, Nottinghamshire. After work as a farm labourer and trainee electrician, he trialled with Notts County and became a professional footballer aged 20. During his career he won an FA Cup medal in 1973 with Sunderland and a League Cup medal with Manchester City in 1976. Dave's career ended where it had begun at Notts County. His playing career spans clubs such as Rotherham United, Werder Bremen, Southampton, Stoke City and Derby County plus sixty-five full England appearances.

Swimming

Rebecca “Becky” Adlington OBE

Becky is a British freestyle swimmer. She won two gold medals at the  2008 Olympic Games in the 400m and 800m, breaking the 19 year-old world record of Janet Evans in the 800m final. Adlington is Britain's first Olympic swimming champion since 1988, the first British swimmer to win two Olympic gold medals since 1908 and Great Britain's most successful Olympic swimmer in 100 years. On 14 December 2008, she was voted third in the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year award and was appointed  Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2009 New Year Honours.

Tom Blower (1914-1955)

Tom was a long-distance swimmer from Hyson Green, Nottingham. He became a world record breaker at the age of 23 and in 1937 earned the nickname "Torpedo" for swimming the English Channel in 13 hours and 29 minutes. At the time he broke the previous record by a staggering 23 minutes.

Cricket

Wilfred Flowers

Calverton born cricketer Wilfred Flowers (1856-1926) was the first Nottinghamshire player to score a 'cricketer's double' - 100 wickets and 1000 runs in the 1883 season. He was the mainstay of the Nottinghamshire side during the county's golden years. He also played for England eight times and took part in the Australia tour in 1884 and 1886.

Harold Larwood MBE / William Voce

Cricketers Larwood (1904-1995) and Voce (1909-1984) started their careers playing for Kirkby in Ashfield. Larwood played 21 test matches and was a bowler of great speed combined with considerable control. He could release lightning deliveries at over 95mph with deadly accuracy. He was a force to be reckoned between 1926 and 1933. A hard hitting and successful batsman, he made 98 against Australia in the final test in 1933. Strongly associated with the famous 1932/33 bodyline tour, his genuine cricketing excellence was often overshadowed by controversy. With his Notts team-mate Voce, Larwood was a pioneer of the infamous ‘bodyline’ bowling used in the 1932-33 tour of Australia. This led to changes in the laws of cricket being introduced in 1934

Bill Voce's name is usually associated with Larwood's. They even had a stand and a pub at Trent Bridge named after them. Voce was a great fast bowler. After Larwood finished playing for England and Voce was recalled in 1936, he was the test sides main strike bowler. He made his test debut aged 20 on a tour to the West Indies in 1929 and played 27 test matches during his career.

Derek Randall

Born in Retford, Derek played for Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club. His club career spanned 1972 to 1983. During this time, he hit 1,000 runs in a season eight times and scored two double centuries. His highest score of 209 against Middlesex in 1979 was accompanied by 146 in the same game.  In late 1976 he started his England career in India. His achievements include 393 matches played for Nottinghamshire, 47 test appearances, and 23,069 county runs including 14 centuries averaging 38.32. He finally hung up his bat in 2001 aged 50.

Snooker

Anthony Hamilton

Born in Nottingham in 1971, snooker player Anthony Hamilton turned professional in 1991. He won his opening match in seven of the eight ranking tournaments last season and his reward was a rise of eight places to No 17. He's dubbed the 'Robin Hood of Snooker'. Having recently suffered from injury, to date he's reached the World Professional Championship quarter-finals in 2000, 2002, he was a China Open runner-up in 2002, British Open runner-up in 1999, Thailand Masters semi-finalist in 1998 and a Benson & Hedges Masters semi-finalist in 1999.

Boxing

Jawaid Khaliq

Local lad Khaliq defeated the holder Willie Wise to claim the IBO World Welterweight title at Nottingham's Harvey Hadden Centre in June 2001. Born in 1970, Jawaid entered the professional arena relatively late in life with his debut in 1997. His career record stands as follows: Total fights: 25, Fights won: 23 (KOs 13), Fights lost: 1, Fights drawn: 1.

William ‘Bendigo’ Thompson

Bendigo (1811-1880) was a bare knuckle fighter born in Nottingham in 1811. He achieved the honoured role of Champion of England in 1835. And in 1855 Bendigo was entered in to the Ring Boxing Hall of Fame. His name originates from the fact that he was called Abednigo by his mother when he was born. He was an exceptional fighter who was scientific, quick and tricky. He fought from a left-hand stance but could shift quickly and hit hard with both fists. Bendigo was also an all-round athlete who was agile in movement and a fast runner.

Golf

Lee Westwood OBE

Born in Worksop in 1973, Westwood turned professional in 1993. He made his name in America by winning the Freeport McDermott Classic in 1998 and was voted 1999 European Golfer of the Year. Amongst his other achievements he can boast six European Tour victories; European Golfer of the Year (1998); third place in European Order of Merit (1997-1998); and being a member of the 1997 Ryder Cup winning team. He has finished fifth on the PGA Tour twice in 2006 and ranks 43rd in Money Leaders on the PGA Tour.  Westwood was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2011 Birthday Honours.

Greg Owen

Like Lee Westwood, Mansfield's Greg Owen is fast becoming a major name in the golfing world. Indeed, the sportsman, who plays out of the Coxmoor golf club, used to compete regularly against Westwood on the county circuit. Now the two seem destined to meet frequently on professional terms. His best finish on the PGA Tour in 2006 was second at the Bay Hill Invitational Presented by MasterCard. He ranks 22nd in Money Leaders on the PGA Tour. A little known fact is that Greg was ranked No.1 tennis player in Nottinghamshire at age 13!

Motorcycle Racing

John Reynolds

John was born in 1965 in Nottingham, and still lives in the city. He started his career in schoolboy motocross on a home built 80cc 'bike. Now he is a true motorcycle legend with more than 200 British Superbike race starts and fifty victories to his credit. He set nine lap records and came first in 28 races out of a possible 32 in his Championship season of 1992. In October 2005 Reynolds announced his retirement from top level motorcycle racing, after a long and highly successful career that included three British Superbike Championship titles, and highly competitive seasons in World Superbike and Grand Prix racing.

Chris Walker

Nottingham born Chris Walker (born 1972) started racing in motocross in 1986. Following his first road race win at Malory Park in 1994 his career took off. 'Stalker', as he's affectionately known, became one of Britain's most exciting prospects when he started circuit racing in 1995. By the end of 1996 he'd risen through the ranks with ease and scoring points in Grand Prix races. He's challenged each year from 1997 and 2000 for the prestigious British Superbike Championship and attempted the 500cc World Championship in 2001. Chris took part in the World Superbike Championship in 2002 with Kawasaki, in 2003 with Ducati, in 2004 with Petronas and in 2005 he came seventh place with PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse.

Sports Commentator

Colin Slater MBE

Commentator Colin Slater has been reporting on Notts County for BBC Radio Nottingham since 1968. He was awarded an MBE in 2001 for his services to the community and in recognition of his charity work and long service as a local magistrate. Not originally from Notts, he moved in 1959 to join the Nottingham Evening News as a journalist. When The Evening News merged with The Evening Post in 1963, Colin continued to report on Notts, playing a key role in saving the club from bankruptcy in 1965. He then joined the original cast of BBC Radio Nottingham broadcasters to provide reports on Notts and the County cricket team.