- Billy Hartill
Football player infobox2
playername= Billy Hartill
fullname = William John Hartill
nickname = 'Artillery'
dateofbirth = birth date|1905|7|18
cityofbirth =Wolverhampton
countryofbirth =England
dateofdeath = death date and age|1980|8|12|1905|7|18
cityofdeath =Walsall
countryofdeath =England
height =
position = Forward
youthyears =
youthclubs = Wolverhampton Town
years = 1928-1935
1935
1936
1936-1938
clubs = Wolverhampton Wanderers
Everton
LiverpoolBristol Rovers
caps(goals) = 221 (162)
005 00(1)
004 00(0)
00 - 00(-)William "Billy" (or "Ted") John Hartill (
July 19 ,1905 —August 12 ,1980 ) was a professional footballer, who spent the majority of his career at Wolverhampton Wanderers. He stands as the club's third-highest goalscorer in their history with 170 goals.Nicknamed 'Artillery' after a stint serving as a bombardier in the Royal Horse Artillery after leaving school, Hartill joined then-Second Division Wolves as a semi-professional in August 1928, making his league debut on
November 24 ,1928 at Bradford City. The following year, his first full season as a professional, he scored 33 goals in 36 games to finish as the club's top goalscorer. He repeated this feat in the next three successive seasons (five times in total), helping the club regain their top flight status as Second Division champions in 1931–32.He remained at Molineux until summer 1935, when he was sold to Everton. His overall tally of 170 goals made him the club's all-time leading goalscorer at the time, a record which stood until April 1980 when broken by John Richards. He twice scored 5 goals in a single match, a record never bettered by a Wolves player, and scored a then club record 16 hat-tricks (later beaten by
Steve Bull ).After a brief stay at Everton, he moved across Stanley Park to rivals Liverpool in January 1936, but again his spell with the club was to be short-lived. He managed just 4 games for the Reds during January-February 1936, before moving to
Bristol Rovers as part of the deal that saw Phil Taylor move in the opposite direction.He retired from the game in 1940 due to a leg injury.
External links
[http://www.wolves.premiumtv.co.uk/page/GoldenOldies/0,,10307~65166,00.html Official Wolves profile]
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