Brian Harris

Feb 21 2008 by David Charters, Liverpool Daily Post

HE WAS a broth of a boy, quick as the blink of an eye at mental arithmetic and a splendid representative of his school at athletics as well as team games – doubtless helped by a father who taught him to dribble a football between bricks, following the unwavering logic that you don’t want to bruise your toes more than once.

His gift for comedy, though, could have led him to the stage.

Of course, he has his place in the hall of heroes, as a stalwart of the midfield, who helped Everton come back from 2-0 down to beat Sheffield Wednesday in the 1966 Cup Final.

He was the one who donned the chasing policeman’s helmet after devotee Eddie Cavanagh had made a solo invasion of the Wembley pitch when the Blues equalised.

Others will remember Brian Harris as the joker who entered a Liverpool department store with the late Brian Labone, later a captain of Everton and an England international, and Johnny King, later a wonderful Tranmere Rovers manager.

They advanced towards the grotto, where the two Brians ordered the much smaller King to roll up his trousers and sit on Santa’s knee, telling him what he wanted for Christmas.

The man on the throne was not amused – maybe because he was wearing red.

Harris was brought up in Bebington, Wirral. His father, Harold, was an engraver at Lever Brothers’ soap factory, Port Sunlight, where his mother, Ethel, was a guide.

The boy, who has a younger sister, Jackie, was an outstanding pupil at Bebington Secondary Modern School. At 16, he won a bat for scoring a century for Port Sunlight Cricket team.

But football was his great love and he played 360 times for Everton as an all-rounder during a career that began in 1954 on £3 a week and ended a few months after the Cup Final.

In the 1961 season, he had the audacity to take two days off to marry Beryl Cupit, a secretary, and they had two sons, Mark and Ian. After Everton, Harris had spells as a player, coach or manager at Newport, Cardiff and Ipswich.

He then ran a canvassing business with his sons at Chepstow, remaining an enthusiastic Evertonian.

Family, friends and fans will attend his service at St Luke’s Church, Goodison Park, on February 27, at 2.15pm.

Brian Harris, footballer; born May 16, 1935, died February 17, 2008