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Post by stewart on Nov 26, 2016 0:07:21 GMT
Very sad to hear that he has died, although 85 years is not a bad return. He has been, probably, the greatest winger the club has ever had. So many times, as a teenager, I can remember standing on the rails on the popside and watching him literally torment the opposing left back with his trickery and pace. He often surged past his opponent and then waited for him to recover before flying past him again.
He truly was the equivalent of Stanley Matthews in the Torquay United team of the late 50s and early 60s, and he was an integral member of the team which won promotion from Division 4 in 1959/60. In my opinion, his greatest game for the club was the 7-1 FA Cup defeat of Northampton Town. It may be that my memory has, at last, begun to play tricks, but I'm pretty sure that his superb crosses laid on every goal in the best performance I have ever seen by a United side.
Perhaps this time there can be a few more tributes on here than on the Penn Inn thing ?
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Post by gullone on Nov 26, 2016 11:28:53 GMT
Very sad to hear that he has died, although 85 years is not a bad return. He has been, probably, the greatest winger the club has ever had. So many times, as a teenager, I can remember standing on the rails on the popside and watching him literally torment the opposing left back with his trickery and pace. He often surged past his opponent and then waited for him to recover before flying past him again. He truly was the equivalent of Stanley Matthews in the Torquay United team of the late 50s and early 60s, and he was an integral member of the team which won promotion from Division 4 in 1959/60. In my opinion, his greatest game for the club was the 7-1 FA Cup defeat of Northampton Town. It may be that my memory has, at last, begun to play tricks, but I'm pretty sure that his superb crosses laid on every goal in the best performance I have ever seen by a United side. Perhaps this time there can be a few more tributes on here than on the Penn Inn thing ? That is a great tribute Stewart and he sounds like one hell of a player! Lovely to hear from somebody that had the pleasure of watching that very successful Torquay United team. |
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rjdgull
TFF member
Admin
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Post by rjdgull on Nov 26, 2016 11:35:13 GMT
link - brief write up on dot com. Maybe Jon can provide a bit more information.
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Jon
Admin
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Post by Jon on Nov 27, 2016 19:46:30 GMT
Very sad to hear that he has died, although 85 years is not a bad return. He has been, probably, the greatest winger the club has ever had. So many times, as a teenager, I can remember standing on the rails on the popside and watching him literally torment the opposing left back with his trickery and pace. He often surged past his opponent and then waited for him to recover before flying past him again. He truly was the equivalent of Stanley Matthews in the Torquay United team of the late 50s and early 60s, and he was an integral member of the team which won promotion from Division 4 in 1959/60. In my opinion, his greatest game for the club was the 7-1 FA Cup defeat of Northampton Town. It may be that my memory has, at last, begun to play tricks, but I'm pretty sure that his superb crosses laid on every goal in the best performance I have ever seen by a United side. Many thanks to Stewart for his wonderful tribute. Larry was before my time so I only know what I have read. Stewart's vivid reminiscences of the late 50s and early 60s are always a joy to read. The Northampton 7-1 got a mention on here in the last week in the context of the three Torquay boys grabbing all the goals, but I had no idea who set them up. Must try to dig out a match report to see how many were down to Larry. I know there is at least one more member on here with memories of Larry: The vinyl, 45s when I put them on in the 60 s, was very limited, hence the repetition of 'Hats off to Larry', which I used to put on for that great winger Larry Baxter and also because the Herald Express writer Quinta would tap on the dividing glass to request something modern- anything modern! Let's spin the vinyl one last time for Larry: |
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Post by gateman49 on Nov 28, 2016 12:27:44 GMT
I have to admit to putting up a message on the other boards as he was one of my all time favourites too. In answer to Stewart, I seem to recall Ernie Pym nutmegging the Northampton centre half and running down the middle of the pitch for one of his three goals so perhaps Larry didn't feature in one goal!
Here is what I wrote in case others haven't seen it:
I seem to remember, through those rose tinted glasses, Larry always getting the ball out wide somewhere near the half way line and going pell mell head down for the corner flag. If any defender got in the way, he would indeed take delight in going around him once, twice or three times. He still managed to score a goal every 8 matches in the company of some goal scoring legends and when players stuck to their nominal field positions much more than they do now.
Only a couple of days ago, on another web site wherein one is asked to name five stand out players, I compared (perhaps a little tongue in cheek) Sparkes's performance on the night with those of Larry (and Tony Scott). Larry did it week in week out and in higher league.
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Post by gateman49 on Dec 30, 2016 13:58:53 GMT
Here is a clip of Larry singing just last year!
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petef
Match Room Manager
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Post by petef on Dec 30, 2016 15:45:57 GMT
Here is a clip of Larry singing just last year! Larry was before my time by a few years but clearly a very talented man. RIP Larry |
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