| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | David Hickson | ||
| Date of birth | 30 October 1929 | ||
| Place of birth | Telford, England | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Ellesmere Port Town | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1948–1955 | Everton | 139 | (63) |
| 1955 | Aston Villa | 12 | (1) |
| 1955–1957 | Huddersfield Town | 54 | (28) |
| 1957–1959 | Everton | 86 | (32) |
| 1959–1961 | Liverpool | 60 | (37) |
| 1961 | Cambridge City | ? | (?) |
| 1961–1962 | Bury | 8 | (0) |
| 1962–1964 | Tranmere Rovers | 45 | (21) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). |
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David "Dave" Hickson (born 30 October 1929 in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire) is an ex-football player, who played for Everton, Aston Villa, Huddersfield Town, Liverpool and Tranmere Rovers.
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Hickson started his career with amateur team Ellesmere Port Town before signing for Everton in 1948, though he was not able to play for three years, having to complete National Service.[1] In the Army he played in the Cheshire Army Cadets team, coached by former Everton centre-forward Dixie Dean.[1] He made his league debut for Everton in September 1951, away to Leeds United.[1] He was a 'physical' centre forward and his complete commitment won him adulation. Although he was good 'in the air', he was also quite skillful on the ground and possessed a powerful shot.
Hickson's reputation was confirmed in an epic 5th round FA Cup tie in 1953 against Manchester United when he had typically put his head where there were flailing boots and he was carried off with a serious gash. Nevertheless he returned to score the winner and played the rest of the match while losing blood copiously. Hickson also scored the winner in the following 6th round tie.
Hickson scored 25 goals in the 1953-54 season and so made a major contribution to Everton's promotion from Division Two. However, he left Everton in 1955 to join Aston Villa for £17,500. Later he moved briefly to Huddersfield Town. In 1957 he came back to Everton, though not as successfully. Even so there was much sadness among Everton's fans when he joined Liverpool in 1959. Later he played 45 games for Tranmere Rovers, making him the only man to play professionally for all three of Merseyside's Football League clubs.[1]
Hickson made 243 appearances and scored 111 goals for Everton and in the process became to the club. He is famous for saying during an interview: "I would have died for Everton, I would have broke every other bone in my body for any other club, that's how I look at it, you know, if it was that much I would have died for this club." Today Hickson is still with Everton as a guide on the tours of the club's ground, Goodison Park.
On 24 November 2007, Hickson suffered a suspected heart attack just before Everton kicked off their home game, a 7-1 victory over Sunderland A.F.C. Everton Chairman Bill Kenwright aborted plans to watch the game after travelling up from London and he rode in an ambulance with close friend Hickson to the local hospital. When he was asked by nursing staff whether he expected to be playing in that fixture, he replied "only in the last ten minutes".
On October 30, 2009 Hickson discharged himself from hospital after two operations on his leg in the previous week to attend what he thought was an 80th Birthday Dinner at Club Everton with 20 or 30 of his close family and old time ex-colleagues. However the surprise event was packed out with almost 250 blues and he was in fine form satisfying all autograph and photograph demands from the enthralled audience. Hickson was presented with a specially commissioned painting of the him in his prime as "The Cannonball Kid" by Everton Life President Sir Philip Carter.