Newcastle hero Charlie Crowe dies aged 85

Mar 1 2010 by Richard Fletcher, The Journal

:: To send your own personal tribute to Charlie Crowe, click here

NEWCASTLE United legend Charlie Crowe, famed for his part in the 1951 FA Cup final, and more recently for his charity work, has died. He was 85.

The FA Cup winner, who headed a campaign to raise money for a scanner to help research into Alzheimer’s Disease, passed away on Saturday night.

Charlie was born on October 30, 1924, in Walker, Newcastle, and spent the majority of his career at his hometown club Newcastle United. He made his debut in January 1946 against Barnsley and made over 170 appearances for the club.

After 11 years he transferred to Mansfield. Later on his management career took him to Whitley Bay for two years between 1957-59, and then as an FA Staff Coach between 1960-67. The highlight of his career came when he took part in the 1951 FA Cup final, which saw Newcastle United take on Blackpool.

Two goals from Jackie Milburn won the cup for the Magpies against the seaside club, who had Stanley Matthews as the star of their own cup run.

United also came close to being the first club in the 20th Century to do the league and cup double, but the cup run led to poor league form and they finished fourth.

After the victory the club brought the trophy home to Tyneside to a welcome by 200,000 fans, and Charlie got into trouble for borrowing the cup and keeping it for two weeks.

His death leaves Vic Keeble as the only surviving player from United’s FA Cup winning teams of 1951, 1952 and 1955.

United manager Chris Hughton paid tribute to Charlie yesterday.

“It's always a very sad time when one of your legendary players dies and today is no different,” he said.

“Charlie was a terrific player in his day, well respected by his peers and it’s fitting that his memory will live on through the fantastic work his friends and family are involved with through the Charlie Crowe scanner appeal.” The Charlie Crowe website reads: “Charlie was renowned for his stamina and hard but fair tackles. He was a tenacious and fearless player, and brought the same qualities to his life off the pitch.

“Charlie Crowe is rightly a hero on Tyneside.”

He was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 1998 and moved to care home Hunter Hall in Wallsend.

More recently, he was known for heading the Charlie Crowe Scanner Appeal, which is aiming to raise £500,000 towards a £1.5m state-of-the-art brain scanner at Newcastle University.

His daughter Lesley Edmondson is part of the University team researching Alzheimer’s.

:: To send your own personal tribute to Charlie Crowe, click here