Beech Street was to become known as the “street of stars” with the likes of Stan Jones, who went on to play for West Bromwich Albion; John Bannister, who played for England as an amateur and the county; Ted Hemsley, who pulled on the Sheffield United top during his career, and Aubrey Haybrox who captained Kidderminster Harriers, all living next door to each other.
And of course there was the late, great Gerald Archibald Hitchens – or Gerry as he was known to adoring fans in England, Wales and Italy – who managed to work his way “From Mine to Milan” thanks to his hard work ethic, strong family support and superb striker’s eye for goal.
The story of Gerry’s rise to fame has been produced in a book for the first time, by author Simon Goodyear, who completed his father’s wish to write the biography of his favourite player. He has dedicated it “to the everlasting memory of a great footballer, Gerald Archibald Hitchens, 1934-1983, and to my father David William Goodyear, 1938-2008”.
But even the Mines to Milan title only tells half the story of a Highley lad who went on to play for Kidderminster Harriers, Cardiff City, Aston Villa, Inter Milan and even represent England in the 1962 World Cup finals - and all this has been captured brilliantly in Simon’s first book.
As the author writes: “Gerry was an uncomplicated footballer, with obvious natural talents and virtues.” This is a phrase that seems to be repeated time-and-time again throughout the book because Gerry was a person who managed to reach the pinnacle of the beautiful game through honest hard work and application.
Gerry was born in Highley in October 1934 after his mother and father, Archibald and Violet, moved to the area to work down the mines, something the blond striker would also do as a living before his football career took off.
His early playing days began with the Highley Scouts team and from there he went on to play for Highley Miners Welfare team, where he really began attracting the eye of local scouts, one of which was Kidderminster Harrier’s secretary Ted Gamson, who persuaded the club to offer him amateur papers to sign.
He joined fellow Highley footballer and miner Haybrox at Harriers in 1953 and the pair would travel to games together – as Haybrox was one of the few players to have a car!
But Hitchens’ performances soon proved beyond the amateur standard and it was Cardiff City who were most willing to take gamble on his raw talent, signing him for £1,500 in 1955.
Here he linked up with the great striker Trevor Ford to form his first formidable strike partnership in the professional ranks scoring 57 goals 108 games over two season while lifting the Welsh Cup in 1957, his first major honour.
Of course his reputation rocketed and once more “bigger” clubs came in for the young striker’s signature. But with Gerry always wearing his heart on his sleeve as soon as his boyhood club let their interest be known he signed for Aston Villa for £22,500 in 1957. It wasn’t all plain sailing at Villa, especially as he was still balancing his professional career while completing his two years of national service, as Villa were relegated in his debut season to Division Two in 1958.
But thanks to an improved squad and with manager Joe Mercer taking a stranglehold on the team, Villa bounced straight back at the first time of asking, giving a young Hitchens his second major honour – a Division Two winners medal.
Gerry’s four years at Villa were certainly some of the most memorable for the club’s diehard fans who will recall the striker’s 1959-60 season when he notched up five goals during an 11-1 win against Charlton Athletic; following that with a hat trick in a 5-0 away win at Bristol City, and then two more at home to Scunthorpe United during another 5-0 win – making it eight goals in three games.
During the 1960-61 season he scored another hat-trick to the delight of the Villa Park faithful as his team beat fierce rivals Birmingham City 6-2, leaving him with 42 goals in 56 games. His 96 goals in 160 games is still the best post-war goal ratio for Aston Villa.
Hitchens was also awarded his first of seven England caps in May 1961, scoring a goal after two minutes of his debut during an 8-0 thrashing of Mexico at Wembley.
He would go on to score four more, including one in the 1962 World Cup finals in Chile.
Gerry’s sublime form inevitably lead to more big teams taking an interest and it was perhaps only the biggest and best who could have prized him away from the club he supported as a boy – and one such club was Inter Milan.
“I wanted to see different places and play against different teams” was Gerry’s honest answer for signing for Inter in June 1961 for a reported £85,000, where he joined the likes of Dennis Law, John Charles and his good friend Jimmy Greaves – who had joined rivals AC Milan – aboard.
And Gerry did what Gerry did best as soon as he arrived scoring two on his debut in a 6-0 rout of Atlanta on the opening day of the season.
It was again Hitchen’s work ethic that kept him in the hearts of his teammates and the supporters and also the reason why he succeeded where others failed.
Most British exports struggled to adapt to the strict rules and training regimes seen in Italy and many returned to England before the season was even out.
Gerry’s early mining days always remained in his blood and after working down the pit during his teenage years the memory of the hard graft enabled him to enjoy unprecedented success in Italy.
One amusing anecdote about Gerry’s training habits comes from Luis Suarez – the 1960 European Footballer of the year and a teammate of Gerry’s at Inter during 1961-62.
He says: “I asked him, ‘Gerry aren’t you ever tried’. Smiling he answered, ‘tired! This is fun to me, running around in this beautiful place in the open air. I was used to crawling underground for 12 to 14 hours in a mine!’”
Gerry went on to play for AC Torino, Atalanta and Cagliari, after leaving Inter just one season into his three year contract, over seven years. He left with the praise of the Italian people, players and even media.
When ‘Gigi’ Riva, Italy’s all time leading goal scorer recalls being fascinated by the “good-looking blond centre-forward” who was “generous on the pitch, and a lion of great temperament and determination”, you know you’ve done something right.
After leaving Italy behind Gerry finished his playing days at Worcester City – where he won his third and final major honour, the Worcester Senior Cup - and finally Merthyr Tydill, retiring in 1971 at the age of 37.
His record of 282 goals in 626 appearances included 92 goals in 175 English Division appearances, and five in seven England appearances.
Gerry continued to play the game he loved, taking part in charity matches, to give something back, picking up goals and unfortunately injuries along the way. Sadly, it was playing in one such game on Wednesday April 13, 1983, that Gerry suddenly collapsed and died at the age of 48.
At the inquest it said there appeared to be a thrombosis in the leg, which became an embolism blocking the main artery, which caused a heart attack.
Many top players from the football fraternity spoke of their shock after Gerry’s untimely death, with Jimmy Greaves saying “the death was a personal blow”.
* Mines to Milan, The Gerry Hitchens Story, by Simon Goodyear, is available to buy now in all good book stores, priced £16.99.
