Edward Joseph "Ted" Drake (August
16, 1912 -
May 30,
1995) was an
English cricketer
and
footballer and manager.
Playing career
Born in
Southampton, Drake started playing at
Winchester City, before turning professional and joining
Southampton, in
1931. A prolific centre-forward, he hit a hat-trick on his Saints debut and
scored (in total) 48 goals in 72 league games. He also appeared for
Hampshire County Cricket Club in
county cricket
Drake moved to
Arsenal
in March 1934 for
£6,500, and scored on his league debut against
Wolves. Although he joined too late to qualify for a
League Championship medal in
1934, Drake would
win one the following season, after scoring a spectacular 42 goals in 41 league
games. With two more goals in the
FA Cup and
Charity Shield, Drake scored 44 in all that season, a club record that holds
to this day.
The following season, Drake scored seven in a single match against
Aston Villa on
December
14, 1935, a
club record that also still stands. Drake would go on to win the
FA Cup in
1936 and the League
again in 1938. The
Second World War curtailed Drake's career somewhat, although he served in
the
Royal Air Force as well as turning out for Arsenal in wartime games.
However, Drake's career would not last long into peacetime; a
spinal injury in
1945 forced him to
retire from playing. With 139 goals in 184 games, he is the joint-fifth (along
with
Jimmy Brain) all-time scorer for Arsenal,
as of 2005.
He also won five
England caps, scoring six times, and was one of seven Arsenal players who
played for England in the "Battle
of Highbury" against
Italy in November 1934.
Management Career
After retiring as a player, Drake managed
Hendon
in 1946, and then
Reading
from 1947 until
1952, when he moved
to
Chelsea. He proceeded to modernise the club and helped to rid the club of
its old nickname, 'the Pensioners', removing the image of a
Chelsea pensioner from the match programme in the process. The team were
affectionately christened 'Drake's Ducklings'. He led Chelsea to their only
Division One title of the
20th
century in 1955;
Drake became the first person to win a Championship title both as player and
manager. After leaving Chelsea in
1962, he became
reserve team manager at
Fulham
(where his son,
Bobby, played), later becoming a director and then life president of the
Cottagers.
Ted Drake died in
1995, at the age of 82.
