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REVEREND KENNETH HUNT - TRENT COLLEGE 'OLD BOY' WAS SOCCER STAR

The 'Famous Residents' section of You & Yesterday continues to grow. Here Peter Seddon considers one who qualifies via a Derbyshire education - the former Head Boy of Trent College, the Reverend Kenneth Hunt, whose stirring deeds on the football field earned him the highest honours in the association game.

Kenneth Hunt - football star and cleric - former Head Boy of the Derbyshire public school Trent College

Kenneth Reginald Gunnery Hunt (1884-1949) was a former pupil and Head Boy of Trent College, Long Eaton, Derbyshire.

His combination of achievements was particularly unusual, for he became both an ordained minister and star association footballer.

He played wing-half for both the full and amateur England side, won an Olympic gold medal with the Great Britain XI, and triumphed in the FA Cup Final when playing for Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Kenneth Reginald Gunnery Hunt was born in Oxford on 24 February 1884. His father Richard George Hunt was an Anglican minister.

When Kenneth was aged 14 the family moved to Wolverhampton, and he attended Wolverhampton Grammar School from 1898-1901. There he began to shine at both football and cricket. He also determined that he would follow his father and become a cleric.

Perhaps with that in mind his father enrolled him as a boarder at Trent College (an Anglican foundation) in the Lent term of 1902, paying fees of £25 a year.

By then aged 17 Kenneth was made a prefect and soon became captain of both the football and cricket teams. The sides achieved great success and Hunt became a highly popular pupil. In his second and final year at Trent he was made Head of School (Head Boy).

He left Trent in 1904 and went up to Queen's College, Oxford, to read Classics. He was a competent scholar rather than a brilliant one, graduating in 1908 with only a 'Pass' degree.

Perhaps he spent too much time on the football field, for it was while at Oxford that he really began to excel. He played in the Varsity match four years in succession, thereby gaining the rare distinction of becoming a quadruple 'Blue'.

He also played soccer for the famous amateur side Corinthians and for Oxford City reserves, and was soon being eyed by professional clubs. Hunt made his debut for his 'home' side Wolverhampton Wanderers in the 1907-08 season - he always remained an unpaid amateur however, claiming nothing but rudimentary expenses.

In 1908 he gained an FA Cup Winners' medal with Wolves, scoring one of the goals in a 3-1 victory over Newcastle United. He remains the last amateur to play in an FA Cup-winning side.

A few months later he won a gold medal at the 1908 London Olympics as part of the Great Britain football XI. That triumph sealed an unusual triple - his Oxford 'Blue' and both FA Cup and Olympic gold medals all in the space of twelve months.

Hunt left Oxford in 1908 and in September of that year joined the staff of Highgate School, London. He was ordained in 1909 but decided to continue teaching rather than take a 'living'. He remained at Highgate for 37 years until his retirement in 1945.

Nor did he forsake football. He played 50 Football League games for Wolves, won eight amateur caps for England (1907-1920) and was twice selected for the full England side in 1911. As well as competing in the 1908 Olympics he also took part in the 1920 Antwerp games he was by then a 36-year-old 'veteran'.

He played his last game for Wolves in 1919-20, and by then had also had spells with Leyton Orient and Crystal Palace. In the period 1907 to 1920 he became rather a well-known celebrity and something of a novelty - a 'footballing cleric' described in a pen picture as 'hard as teak'.

He became a revered master at Highgate School before retiring in 1945 at the age of 60. One of his more quirky claims to fame is that he once administered 'six of the best' to a cheeky lad called Murray Walker - later the legendary motor-racing commentator famous for his bloopers....'there's absolutely nothing wrong with the car except that it's on fire'.

Kenneth Hunt retired with his wife to the East Sussex town of Heathfield. In 1946 he was elected to the FA Council as representative for the Amateur Football Alliance, holding the post until his untimely death 3 years later.

K. R. G. Hunt passed away at his home 'Edgehill' on 28 April 1949 after suffering a bout of pneumonia - he was 65.

Out of his considerable wealth of £23,000 he left the sum of £500 to Trent College to establish a prize in the memory of his former colleague there - the Reverend G. S. Warner.

There are undoubtedly more famous Derbyshire 'old boys' than Kenneth Hunt, but none who attended any of the county's public schools can quite match the stirring football deeds of the soccer-star cleric.

                                                 R. I. P. Kenneth Reginald Gunnery Hunt
                                                        Late Head Boy Trent College
                                                      Wolves and England Footballer
                                                            Olympic Gold Medallist
                                                            Born 1884 - Died 1949            
   

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