| 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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