Biography
Young full back Archer Stokes was born in the West Hull villages but joined the Sheffield Wednesday groundstaff in 1936 – the modern day equivalent of joining their youth team. By early 1937 he had returned to Hull and played for local sides Hull Nomads and Hessle Old Boys. In April 1937 he began playing for Hull City Reserves on amateur terms and in the 1937 close season he signed a professional contract with the Tigers. Stokes served the club for two seasons but made only one first team appearance in March 1939 against Rotherham United.
Stokes was retained for the 1939/40 season but the outbreak of World War Two bought football to a halt in September 1939. Still just 19 years old, Archer joined the Royal Air Force as a PT instructor in January 1940 and was stationed for over two years in Ontario, Canada, where he met his future wife. After his return to England in 1943 Stokes played wartime matches for Bradford Park Avenue, Dundee and Chelmsford City and ended up being stationed by the RAF in Essex. He was demobilised in March 1946 and returned to Hull, by which time he was playing for Southern League side Chelmsford City. He joined Midland League side Scarborough for the 1946/47 season but by February 1947 he was considering a move to the United States of America, erhaps inspired by his Canadian wife, to commence a career in football coaching.
Archer eventually settled in Los Angeles, California where he coached local sides for over twenty years and ran a successful building contractor business. He returned to Hull in 1972 to catch up with old footballing friends before returning to California. He died during December 2013 at Redlands, a small town 30 kilometres east of Los Angeles in California, having reached the grand old age of 93.
Archer’s older brother Ernie, three years his senior, played for Sheffield Wednesday, Torquay United and Southend United in the late 1930s.
Details
Nationality: England
Date/Place of Birth: 31 January 1920, West Ella
Hull City First Game: 9 March 1939, Rotherham United H (Division Three North), 19 years, 37 days old
Hull City Final Game: 9 March 1939, Rotherham United H (Division Three North), 19 years, 37 days old
Clubs
Sheffield Wednesday (1936-1937), Hull City (1937-1939), Chelmsford City (1945-1946), Scarborough (1946-1947), Chicago Vikings (1947)
Hull City Record
Career: 1 apps, 0 goals
Archer Stokes| Season | LGE App | LGE Gls | FAC App | FAC Gls | FLC App | FLC Gls | EUR App | EUR Gls | OTH App | OTH Gls |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1936/37 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1937/38 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1938/39 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |