Sammy Wightman

Sammy Wightman

Samuel (Sammy) WIGHTMAN

Born in Whitehaven in 1887, Sammy started off at Workington before a short spell at Merthyr proved an interlude to him joining Middlesbrough.

After not getting any game time at Ayresome Park he demanded a transfer and was on the list for several months before the Town took the plunge in December 1910.

At Luton he turned out to be a revelation as a highly cultured full-back with brilliant positional sense and great anticipation. Forming a strong full-back partnership with Ted Potts he was virtually ever present until tragedy struck on 8th April 1912.

In a game at Brighton he was accidentally kicked in the stomach and had to leave the field. Doctors confirmed he was fit to travel back but on the train he lost consciousness and was transferred from Victoria to St Pancras by horse drawn carriage and then on to the Bute Hospital in Luton.

Sammy did not survive an emergency operation on a burst bowel as peritonitis had set in and he died two days later. Sammy was buried in Whitehaven with the Town’s directors paying for the headstone.