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With nearly 500 appearances over 16 years at Elland Road, Grenville
Hair was a supremely fit and dedicated player who deserved greater
international recognition than selection for a handful of FA touring
parties. Persuaded to focus on the football rather than the athletics
field by Major Frank Buckley, he became a regular in the side at the
age of 21 and in the following 10 years he barely missed a game until
Paul Reaney and Willie Bell started to claim regular places in the
early 1960s. He left the club in 1964 to take up a player-manager
position with Wellington Town, and three years later he became coach
at Bradford City. Promoted to manage the side in 1968, he had been in
charge for just a month when he suffered a heart attack after a
training session that was to prove fatal.
James Hair says: I am his Grandson and I am currently at Repton
School along with my older brother. i also have a sister aged 3. my
father (Grenville's son) is currently the owner of a McDonald's
Restaurant, he is called Kenneth Hair. Grenville also has another son
called Anthony.
Ian Gledhill says: I seem to remember Grenville Hair being pressed
into service as a goalkeeper for the reserve team in the early
sixties. This was of course in the days when Central League fixtures
were played on a Saturday afternoon. I think it must have been about
the time when keepers like Tommy Younger, Ted Burgin and maybe Alan
Humphreys were at the club and due to injuries Leeds were forced into
actually selecting Grenville between the sticks. Anyway, the fixture
was at Elland Road but I cannot remember who the opponents were. The
YEP made quite an issue of it. Maybe someone could confirm this and
prove that my memory is not just playing tricks.
John Hill says: I recently been researching my family tree and
discovered that Granville's mother was my Grandmothers sister. I
never knew Granville but he did help my older brother collect football
players signatures. It was sad that he died so young on the brink of
another career with Bradford.
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