A farewell to Jack Hixon

Last updated : 22 December 2009 By Tony Scholes
Back at Turf Moor in February 2002
They got his name wrong, but it sadly conveyed the news that Jack, a Burnley scout for many years, had passed away at the age of 88.

I think it is something of an understatement to just call him a Burnley scout. Jack was responsible for many players making their way to Turf Moor as youngsters from their native North East.

Becoming a Burnley scout was by chance. He befriended Billy Elliott whilst serving in the RAF, so much so that he was Elliott's best man at his wedding and it was the winger who persuaded him to start scouting for Burnley.

That was in the early 1950s and the list of players who became Clarets because of him seemed almost endless. Probably the big three, in terms of achievement, were Brian O'Neil, Ralph Coates and Dave Thomas. He once described Thomas as the best he'd found and he simply drooled at the mention of O'Neil.

You can add to those three such as Arthur Bellamy, Mick Buxton, Dave Merrington, John Murray, Ray Ternent and of course Stan Ternent.

He left Burnley in the late 60s but his work continued at Southampton. He sent them Alan Shearer and a young central defender by the name of Steve Davis who went on to have a fantastic career in two spells with the Clarets and is now of course our first team coach.

He found Michael Bridges for Sunderland too, but he didn't get everything right and turned down Colin Bell who he didn't think would make it.

During Stan Ternent's time as manager he brought Hixon back into the fold. Maybe his magic had gone by then, he was 81 years of age, but none of the players he sent made it into league football.

Hixon wasn't just a scout though, and I think you will find that all of the players mentioned above will consider him to be a friend and it is no surprise that tributes have poured in from them since he passed away in hospital.

One of them was from Stan Ternent. He told the north east press: "He spotted a lot of talent; so many players from all over the place. He brought hundreds and hundreds of players into the game and a lot of them became internationals.

"We won't see the likes of him again. He spotted me in the North East. I was a friend of his from the age of 13. I got my chance in the game and it was all down to Jack. He could spot a player and he was a genuinely nice person."

Burnley Football Club has had some great names in the past and there's no doubt that Jack Hixon was one of them. The part he played in our success of the 1950s and 1960s can never be underestimated.