 Hibbs in 1936 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Henry Edward Hibbs | ||
| Date of birth | (1906-05-27)27 May 1906 | ||
| Place of birth | Wilnecote, England | ||
| Date of death | 23 April 1984(1984-04-23) (aged 77) | ||
| Place of death | Welwyn Garden City, England | ||
| Height | 5 ft9+3⁄4 in (1.77 m)[1] | ||
| Position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Wilnecote Holy Trinity | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| Tamworth Castle | |||
| 1924–1939 | Birmingham | 358 | (0) |
| 1953–1954 | de Havillands | ||
| International career | |||
| 1929–1936 | England | 25 | (0) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1944–1951 | Walsall | ||
| 1961–1962 | Ware Town | ||
| 1962–1963 | Welwyn Garden City | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Henry Edward Hibbs (27 May 1906 – 23 April 1984) was an Englishfootballer who played as agoalkeeper forBirmingham andEngland in the 1920s and 1930s. His uncleHubert Pearson and cousinHarold Pearson were also professional players.[2]
Hibbs was born in the township ofWilnecote,Warwickshire and, whilst training as aplumber,[3] played for his local club sidesWilnecote Holy Trinity andTamworth Castle, who had some torrid seasons in the Birmingham and District Football League (the club conceding a total 164 goals over the 1922 and 1923 seasons).[4] Despite this, Hibbs came to the attention ofBirmingham when he was 17 years of age, and impressed so much in trials that he was offered professional forms in May 1924. Among such club legends asFrank Womack andJoe Bradford, Hibbs became a regular feature of Billy Beer's side, but it was a barren period in the club's history.
Leslie Knighton's arrival fromBournemouth & Boscombe Athletic in 1928 signalled an improvement in fortunes for both Hibbs and Birmingham. Hibbs was part of anFA tour to South Africa and made three appearances for theFootball League XI. His form on the FA tour earned him a call up forEngland, and he was selected to playWales atStamford Bridge on 20 November 1929. England won the match 6–0, with a hat-trick fromGeorge Camsell[5] He was selected for the "Professionals" in the1929 FA Charity Shield,[6] but missed the game due to an injury.[7]
Prior to Hibbs's debut, the England selectors had tried 21 different goalkeepers in the nine years sinceSam Hardy's retirement in 1920. Hibbs was almost a "carbon copy" of Hardy, unspectacular but highly reliable, preferring to do everything in as simple a manner as possible, a style that was to see him become England's most capped goalkeeper up to that time,[3] as he was selected 25 times for England (ten clean sheets), becoming a main-stay well into the mid-1930s.
Birmingham reached theFA Cup final in1931, in which they lost 2–1 to a strongWest Bromwich Albion side. Hibbs' cousin,Harold Pearson, who played on the winning side in the Cup Final, was selected to play for England againstScotland on 9 April 1932 in what would be his only full international appearance.
After 389 games, his career with Birmingham came to an end a little while into the start of the Second World War. His testimonial came against cross-city rivalsAston Villa on 13 April 1940, in the first Wartime benefit game.
In August 1944, Hibbs became manager ofWalsall for seven years. The highlight of this period was the club's appearance in the 1946 Third Division (South) final, in front of 20,000, atStamford Bridge against Bournemouth and by the team ofRon Crutchley,Doug Lishman,Reg Foulkes, "Nutty" Newman and goalkeeperJackie Lewis.
Hibbs went back to play in goal for Havillands F.C. between February 1953 and the following summer. He then left football altogether before coming back to carry out two managerial stints atWare for the1960–61 season andWelwyn Garden City for the1962–63 season.
Hibbs settled inWelwyn Garden City, where he died in April 1984 at the age of 77.[8]
Birmingham
