Post by herbertblake on Dec 1, 2021 18:24:46 GMT
Former Rovers full back Johnny Hills who Rovers signed from Tottenham Hotspur in early 1960s has died in Belgium. Hills made just seven league appearances for Rovers.
JOHN RAYMOND HILLS
Born 24.2.1934 Northfleet Died 28.11.2021 Brussels, Belgium
Height and weight 5’ 10”; 11 st 7 lbs FB
Rovers league Début: 19.8.61 v Liverpool
Career: Gravesend County Grammar School; Dashwood Athletic; Gravesend and Northfleet; March 1950 Tottenham Hotspur (professional, August 1953) [29,0]; 19.7.61 Bristol Rovers [7,0]; July 1962 Margate.
Sonny Parker, Bob Harris and Joe Day all equalled the feat shortly after the turn of the millennium, but the first Rovers player to concede an own goal on his début was Johnny Hills. A “classy full-back” at Spurs, where he had appeared in the club record 13-2 FA Cup win against Crewe Alexandra in February 1960, Hills put through his own net after 65 minutes of a 2-0 defeat and, with the side losing the first five of his appearances, Rovers were relegated to Division Three in the spring of 1962. Solid and dependable, he had made his League bow in Spurs’ December 1957 fixture against Blackpool and was in the side which trailed 4-2 at Highbury after 86 minutes in February 1958, only to claim an unlikely 4-4 draw in the derby game with Arsenal. Over 200 reserve appearances at White Hart Lane included a Combination champions’ medal in 1956-57. The son of Herbert Frederick Hills (1901-65) and Kathleen Harsum, a Kent girl who was the daughter of Charles Maulden Harsum and Rebecca Rowe (1859-1926), Johnny Hills missed the entire 1955-56 season through injury after completing his National Service and was then kept out of the Spurs side by England full-back Alf Ramsey. However, his potential earned him a place on the Football Association tour of Nigeria and Ghana in May 1958, where his five games included a 5-0 victory over the Nigerian national side. Married in the spring of 1959 to Sheila Stewart, he arrived at Eastville with a young son but, having a cartilage operation at Winford Hospital, found appearances sporadic and, having taught Physical Education at the International School in Brussels until 1969, thereafter lived in Paris and Sri Lanka, before retiring to Belgium. Biography compiled by Rovers Historian Stephen Byrne.
