312 Jerry Best

Biography

Experienced centre forward Jeremiah “Jerry” Best served Hull City for the majority of the 1936/37 season. Joining the club in October 1936, he started every game for the remainder of the season and scored eleven goals. His best achievements were four goals in a 5-1 thumping of Tranmere Rovers in December 1936 and a brace in a 4-1 win at Southport in mid-January 1937. He left the club in the 1937 close season and returned to play North Eastern League football for Hexham FC in his native Northumberland.

Jeremiah Best was born in Mickley, on the south bank of the River Tyne between Gateshead and Hexham, playing for his local Northern Alliance side Mickley Colliery Welfare and working in the local colliery as a teenager. In November 1919 it was reported that he had joined Division Two side South Shields, however the transfer was abandoned when it became apparent that he already signed for Division One side Newcastle United, albeit on contract terms that Jerry disputed. That dispute was resolved and Jerry joined Newcastle United in December 1919 but went on to make only 2 senior appearances for the Magpies in March 1920, both a outside left. In July 1920 Best joined newly formed Division Two side Leeds United but he stayed only one season at Elland Road, making 11 appearances and scoring once in September 1920 against Port Vale. In the 1921 close season Best returned north to join County Durham based North Eastern League side Leadgate Park, where he played for two seasons.

In October 1923 Best ventured to the United States to begin an eight year association with various clubs in the professional American Soccer League, an organisation that drew many of its players from the Scottish and Irish leagues. In the 1923/24 season he played for Newark Skeeters, then in the 1924/25 season he scored twenty goals for the tremendously named Providence Clamdiggers. In 1925 Jerry joined New Bedford Whalers where in four seasons he scored 66 goals in 162 appearances as the Whalers twice finished league runners-up as well as winning the Lewis Cup in 1926 – New Bedford were also Lewis Cup losing finalists in 1929. In 1929 he played briefly for Fall River Marksmen, the Whalers’ local rivals and the club that dominated the American Soccer League by claiming six titles in the 1920s, but the league was abandoned after a few games. In 1930 he played for Pawtucket Rangers, then returned to Massachusetts to play again for New Bedford Whalers in the 1930 fall season, scoring a handsome 35 goals and finishing the League’s top goalscorer. Overall Jerry scored 138 goals in the ASL, placing him 6th on the all-time list for a League that ran between 1921 and 1931.

By 1931 a combination of economic failure after the 1929 Great Depression and inter-league battles resulted in the American Soccer League beginning to collapse and Best returned to England, signing for Division Three South side Clapton Orient in August 1931. He scored on his October 1931 debut for the O’s against Fulham and kept his first team place for the remainder of the 1931/32 season. Jerry fell out of favour at Clapton Orient from January 1933 onwards and left the club in May 1933 having scored seventeen goals in 61 appearances.

Best spent the summer of 1933 playing and coaching in Switzerland before joining Division Three North side Darlington in October 1933. He scored on his October 1933 debut against Stockport County and quickly found his goalscoring form last witnessed during his time in the United States. He scored a hattrick against Southport in February 1934, then performed the same feat a month later against Halifax Town and ending the 1933/34 season with twenty goals. His form in front of goal continued for two seasons, netting 33 times in the 1934/35 season and adding a further 25 strikes in the 1935/36 season – Jerry scored four hattricks during these two seasons against Crewe Alexandra (October 1934), Rochdale (December 1934), Rotherham United (March 1935) and Oldham Athletic (April 1936). When he left Darlington to join Hull City in October 1936 Best had scored an impressive 80 goals in 124 appearances.

By 1939 Best had returned to live in Darlington with his wife Ivy and was working in a forge mill. He remained in Darlington for the rest of his life and died in March 1975.

Details

Nationality: England
Date/Place of Birth: 23 January 1901, Mickley
Hull City First Game: 31 October 1936, Chester A (Division Three North), 35 years, 282 days old
Hull City Final Game: 1 May 1937, Darlington H (Division Three North), 36 years, 98 days old

Clubs

Mickley Colliery Welfare, Newcastle United (1919-1920), Leeds United (1920-1921), Leadgate Park (1921-1923), Newark Skeeters (1923-1924), Providence Clamdiggers (1924-1925), New Bedford Whalers (1925-1929), Fall River Marksmen (1929), Pawtucket Rangers (1930), New Bedford Whalers (1930-1931), Clapton Orient (1931-1933), Darlington (1933-1936), Hull City (1936-1937), Hexham FC (1937-1938)

Hull City Record

Career: 32 apps, 11 goals