Family and admirers of legendary Bolton Wanderers footballer David Jack gathered at his birthplace this weekend to mark a blue plaque in his honour.
David Jack is renowned amongst Whites fans for having scored the first goal at Wembley a century ago to give his team a lead against West Ham at the White Horse final of 1923.
This weekend his nephew, great-nephew and a host of supporters gathered at a what is now a Premier Stores on Chorley Old Road that was his place of birth in 1898.
Nephew Bob Jack said: “We’re delighted obviously, in fact there’s already a plaque to David Jack down in Southend.
“That was installed because the family moved there and it marks that he lived there as a child.”
He added: “It was opened by Teddy Taylor who was the local MP for the area for many years.”
Mr Jack was joined by his son Gordon and by Bolton Family History Society committee members David Baker and Gordon Niven with Wanderers club historian Simon Marland.
The society had commissioned the plaque, which was funded by the Jack family with the club itself, as a fitting way to mark the birth place of a Wanderers icon and hope that commemorations like these will help to keep his memory alive.
They were also joined by a host of Wanderers fans, freshly enthused from their side’s Papa Johns Trophy triumph this season, and historians who heard a talk from Mr Marland about David Jack and the huge part that he had played in Whites history.
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The 1923 FA Cup Final was known as the white horse final because of the image of a police horse being used to control the crowd to allow the game to begin.
It would be Wanderers’ David Jack who made history as the first player to score at the then newly constructed Wembley Stadium.
But Jack would also go on to write his name into the history books with Arsenal, becoming one of only two players to score 100 top flight goals for two clubs, being joined later by Jimmy Greaves and Alan Shearer.
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