Thomas Fowler was born in Prescot in December 1924.
He played Junior football for the all-conquering Prescot Rovers club. In 1941, he was recommended to the Everton Secretary, Mr. Theo Kelly by his friend, Jack Lyon of Whiston, who had joined the Toffeemen in 1940. He signed for the Blues as an amateur, aged just 16 years.
A left-winger, Tommy, was described as being about 5ft 8in, and 10st 6lb, and a natural footballer with a remarkable turn of speed and the ability to cross a ball accurately. After a string of impressive games for the A team and Reserves, Tommy made his first team debut on 24th October 1942 and scored in a 9-2 thrashing of Bury at Goodison Park. He retained his place and scored again in his second match for the first eleven. Tommy is probably one of the youngest payers ever to score for Everton.
Tommy’s run in the first team certainly impressed the correspondent “Pilot”, writing in the Liverpool Evening Express, “He is the type of player who learns quickly and the experience he is getting in the first team is working wonders with him. Fowler is an opportunist as witness his consistency in the goal-getting line, and if only he can develop his right foot work he will prove a real winner in post-war football.” Tommy scored four goals I his first five games.
In March 1943, was called up to serve in the Army. During his basic training he continued to turn out for Everton whenever he available. In July 1944, Tommy, now a member of the 216th battalion of the South Staffs regiment, was called into active duty and sent to Normandy. He was quickly promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal.
During an operation to take out a sniper, he received a head wound and was repatriated back to the UK to recover. After a period in a Military Hospital in Southport he was transferred to the Winwick Military Hospital in Warrington, where he came under the care of Don Welsh, then a Sergeant Major Instructor in the army. Welsh was a professional footballer, who would go on to play for Charlton Athletic in the 1947 F.A. Cup final against Burnley, and later managed Liverpool. During his time in Warrington, Tommy was able to regularly return home to Prescot to visit family. He may well have been a contemporary of the Prescot Cables player, Bert Jelly, who was also recovering at Winwick?
Under Welsh’s supervision, Tommy grew stronger and began to regain his fitness. He transferred to a convalescent centre in Kempston, near Bedford. Jack Jennings, a former wing half for Wigan Borough, Cardiff City, Middlesbrough and Preston was working at the centre. Jennings had joined the coaching staff at Northampton Town, as war broke out in 1939.
Once Jennings had identified the small, slight young man, with his head wound still visible, as a former Everton footballer, Tommy was invited to train with the Cobblers. Tommy gave a good account of himself, and was selected for Northampton’s next game, against West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthorns. In total, Tommy played four games for Northampton during that season, winning the last one, against Derby county, and scorning his first goal for the club. However, by the end of the 1945 season, Tommy had been moved again, to the 23rd Infantry Holding battalion, stationed at Ross-on-Wye in Herefordshire.
On his demobilisation, he moved back to Northampton and became a professional with the Cobblers. He quickly became a regular in the first team and a big crowd favourite at The County Ground, earning the nickname “Flash”. In 1952, Northampton staged a joint benefit match for Tommy and his best friend, Town wing-half, Gwyn Hughes, which realised more than £300 for each player. In 1954, Tommy submitted a transfer request, but subsequently withdrew it. The following season, Derby County tried to sign him, but were rebuffed by The Cobblers.
Tommy went on to play 17 seasons for Northampton Town as a left-winger, and is the club's all-time appearance record holder, having played 521 league games, and 585 first-team games in all competitions, scoring 84 league goals.
In the twilight of his career, Tommy was allowed to move to Aldershot in December 1961, and spent two partial seasons with The Shots, before retiring from the game in late 1962. He settled in Northampton after his retirement from football, and died in May 2009, aged 84.
Tommy is commemorated at Northampton Town through the Tommy Fowler Merit Award, which is awarded by the Fowler family each year. This award is often handed to someone who works behind the scenes to recognise the work they do for the football club.
There is an excellent book chronicling Tommy’s story, “Quite Simply a Flash of Genius” by Frank Grande, which is now out of print, but is sometimes available on eBay and other used book sites.
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