A fond farewell to a true sporting Jack-of-all-trades
I was saddened to learn of the death at the age of 81 of John Sedgley. John was a talented cricketer and footballer, both liked and respected on the local sporting scene.
A dual sportsman whose appearance in a football team playing in a cricket match led him to become a professional cricketer was the unusual path followed by John. Also known as Jack, dependent upon the company he was in, he was born in West Bromwich in 1939, and attending Guns Lane Junior School and George Salter Secondary Modern. He represented West Bromwich Boys at soccer and had trials for Birmingham County FA without getting the nod.
His first job was with Birmingham Railway Carriage and Waggon Company for whom he immediately played football and cricket. Football was in the strong Birmingham Works League. John was watched by Albion manager, Vic Buckingham who liked what he saw and asked John to join the ground staff at The Hawthorns.
Several Albion players including Ray Barlow, Bill Brookes and Don Howe were more than useful cricketers and John joined the side who played annual fixtures against teams including Dudley Wayfarers, Mitchell’s and Butlers and Old Hill.
Friendship
Following a game against Dudley Wayfarers John was invited to join Dudley and his first net practice coincided with the first sighting at Dudley of Ron Headley and a lifelong friendship was formed, a span of over sixty years.
Both John and Ron were recommended to Worcestershire, and following John’s trial at the end of the season he was asked to return to New Road in March, and was invited to join the staff for the 1958 season.
John was second highest scorer in the country in 1959 in Second XI games with over 1,000 runs including three centuries
made against a Glamorgan attack which included Jeff Jones, Lancashire who included Peter Lever, and Leicestershire. Unbelievably no first team callup was forthcoming. Eventually in 1960 his debut arrived against Northants at Dudley, and he made a very creditable 34 before falling lbw to a certain Frank Tyson.
He also battled to a half century against Essex who included Trevor Bailey. The zenith of John’s county career came in 1960 with a hard fought 95 against a Derbyshire attack that included the legendary Les Jackson before being run out.
John bought a secondhand Ford Popular which became the daily mode of transport for him and for Ron Headley whom he picked up in Dudley, halting at Stourbridge for Ron to buy sandwiches, with Treffor Davies joining them before the final stop at Hartlebury where John Aldridge became the fourth passenger.
Budget cuts at the end of the 1961 season meant that a very disappointed John was amongst several players released. Spells in the Birmingham League with Dudley and Old Hill followed before John finished his career at West Bromwich Dartmouth where his son, Mark, was also playing. John also enjoyed coaching spells at all three clubs. Helping with ground duties at Dudley in 1985 John was astounded, on rolling back the covers, to see that “that hole” had appeared, spelling the end of both cricket and football at Dudley.
What happened to John’s football aspirations? After two years on Albion’s ground staff he joined Aston Villa where he played in their youth team alongside Ron Atkinson before joining Nuneaton Borough as a part-time professional. Further spells followed at Cradley Heath, Dudley Town, Gornal, Lye Town and Netherton Town until a torn cartilage ended his career.
Frozen
Throughout, John was supported by his wife Joan who, as she told me, has been “frozen in the winter and baked in the summer,” as she watched from the sidelines. John’s sight deteriorated and sadly he was registered blind in June 2015.
John and Joan were indeed a partnership during a marriage of almost sixty years, which was brought to a sad end at their home in Dudley.
Understandably, having lived a life initially playing sport and then watching it, John found it very difficult to cope with blindness which precluded him from maintaining a meaningful relationship with his beloved sport.