Tributes paid to sports shop

MAN WHO SET UP NORTH EAST BUSINESS HAS DIED AT AGE OF 91

Tributes have been paid to the founder of a North East sports shop business who could sell “ice to the Eskimos”.

Tom McGurk, who ran TY McGurk, has died at the age of 91 after a short battle with septicemia and pneumonia.

He founded his business in his native South Shields in the late 1960s before later opening branches in Washington and Sunderland.

Although the chain catered for a variety of sports, it will be remembered by thousands of people across the region as the place where they bought their first pair of football boots.

While he was mainly housebound at his Cleadon home in recent months, his family say he was “laughing and joking until the end”.

Step-daughter Adrienne Wallhead, 59, who is a nurse and also from Cleadon, said: “Even when the ambulance came to take him to hospital, he was asking if they could drop him off at The Cottage pub along the way.”

Her sister, Jennifer Robinson, 67, a training company director who now lives in Gateshead, added: “He was a man’s man but nice with it.

“He spoke his mind clearly

and if he disagreed with something he told you so. But he was also loving and loyal and will be sadly missed.”

Mr McGurk was born in the Laygate area of South Shields on June 2, 1925, and attended the town’s Baring Street and Dean Road schools.

His first job was at a local fish and chip shop while he was still a pupil before he

started his full-time career delivering messages for the Shields Gazette.

Mr McGurk joined the Merchant Navy after the start of the Second World War with his duties including diving underwater to remove limpet bombs from the side of wrecked vessels.

He later worked at Westoe Colliery and in insurance before running a general clothing shop in Park Avenue, South Shields, around halfa-century ago.

After acting on advice to specialise, he soon opened his first TY McGurk at The Nook, South Shields, with branches following at The Galleries, Washington, and Crowtree Road, Sunderland, as trade flourished.

He eventually sold up to his staff after turning 65 with the new owners keeping the successful McGurk name as they first expanded the business north of the River Tyne before selling up themselves to Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct empire. Mrs Wallhead said: “While he could sell sand to the Arabs and ice to the Eskimos, he was extremely loyal to his staff and wanted them to take it over rather than accept more money from other people.

“He also kept money in the business in their early years in charge to help them along the way.”

He is survived by wife, Doris, 89, who was a director of the business, his two stepdaughters and step-son James Lowrie,62,ofCleadon,anengi-