| Jabba's Comments |
Tommy Burden had played for Major Frank Buckley at Wolves during
the war, and the two were reunited at Leeds as Buckley started to
rebuild the side that had been relegated to Division 2. He was
wounded in the D-Day landings, but that did not affect his
long-term fitness and he was team captain for 4 seasons, making
over 250 appearances for Leeds. He died at home in Taunton in late
2001.
OzWhite says: It was with sadness that I read that Tommy died in
2001.He was one of the nicest men I have ever met.As a very young
primary schoolboy I knocked on his house door and asked him for his
autograph.He asked me in,signed my new autograph book and asked if
I would like any other Leeds players autographs. "John Charles",I
asked hopefully.He smiled and said "leave it with me". I went back
several times and he always had an excuse for not giving me it.At
the end of the season,he gave it back to me.It had the autographs
of all LUFC players,and their opponents including Arsenal,the
Compton brothers et al!Can you imagine any of today's players doing
that? I saw Tommy play many times,he was,for obvious reasons,always
a favourite of mine.He was the Captain and a fine leader and
example to all.
John laight says: Watched Tommy play for Bristol City foe the
whole of his time their. Brilliant wing half and inspirational
captain. One of the best non capped players I ever saw. Towards the
end he even managed to do it part time with no obvious loss of
commitment..
Caspiano says: Living in Street in Somerset I was aware of the
local man who played football for Leeds United but did not see him
play until staying with relatives in Leeds. An uncle took my cousin
and me to a match where we saw him captaining a Leeds United match
with John Charles in the side. Can't remember much more about the
match but was surprised by the huge numbers attending compared to
local games in the west country.
A few years later I joined the local cricket club in the village
and there was Tommy in the team where he gave plenty of
encouragement to us younger members of the club.
During those years he played pro football in the winter and worked
for the local shoemakers, Clarks, during the summer.
He had two children, Margaret and David. Margaret was a lovely
young lady just a few years younger than myself and I enjoyed her
friendship.We went out together for a while but I got into real
trouble with Tommy when we arrived back at her home at about 3 a.m.
where we found Tommy waiting up for us. I later lost touch as I was
working abroad but heard that Margaret had married and continued to
live in Street. She had inherited her Father's sporting genes,
played hockey the South West of England and was on the verge of the
England team when, not long after her wedding she died in a road
accident on her way to work as a PE teacher at Yeovil.
This was another traumatic experience for her family as her
grandfather had died in a garage accident.
Clarks were very understanding and provided Tommy and his wife with
the opportunity to get away from it all and assigned Tommy to a
position within the organization in Australia for a few years.
Following this they returned to Somerset where Tommy retired near
to his son who was also a local sporting stalwart on the cricket
field and perhaps football too but I'm not sure about that.
Tommy was a local lad done good and I'm proud to have known
him.
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