Evening Chronicle

Tributes paid to Shearer mentor Jack Hixon

20 December 2009, by Nicola Juncar

The man who kick-started Toon legend Alan Shearer’s career has passed away. Jack Hixon, from Whitley Bay, died in hospital at the age of 88 yesterday, following a short illness.

Shearer was among the first to pay tribute to his mentor and friend.

“It’s a very sad day,” he said. “Jack was a lovely man, very hard working and totally dedicated. We were very close and he will be sadly missed.”

Jack became a scout for Burnley by accident after serving in the Navy during the Second World War with England winger Billy Elliott.

In recent years, he claimed to have found 47 talented Geordie schoolboys who have gone on to play top-flight football.

But it will be for helping Shearer on his way to becoming a Magpies hero and England international that he will be best remembered.

Jack first spotted him as a 13-year-old striker turning defences inside out for Newcastle Boys on Benfield Park.

A year later the teenager went to Southampton to start his apprenticeship.

The pair remained friends and Shearer made a secret visit to Jack’s hospital bedside before the Euro 2000 championships after he fell ill with a serious kidney complaint.

Jack previously said of Shearer: “What can you say to pay tribute to Alan Shearer – he is just a wonderful man. He has achieved so much and I burst with pride about him.

“Often I have been in the right place at the right time. The Lord has smiled down on me.”

Jack also talent-spotted Stan Ternent from Gateshead. The former Sunderland coach and Burnley manager remained good friends with Jack.

Stan said: “He spotted a lot of talent; so many players from all over the place. He brought hundreds and hundreds of players into the game and a lot of them became internationals.

“We won’t see the likes of him again.He spotted me in the North East. I was a friend of his from the age of 13. I got my chance in the game and it was all down to Jack. He could spot a player and he was a genuinely nice person.”

Jack had a unique record in the North East, as he was the only scout who helped boost the careers of key men at all three clubs in the region. He was also responsible for unearthing former Toon striker Michael Bridges and Burnley’s England winger Ralph Coates.

It was Jack who signed former Newcastle United youth development officer John Murray for Burnley. He also took former Sunderland coach Mick Buxton into league football at Burnley and signed Middlesbrough’s youth development officer, George Shipley, for Southampton.

Despite his talents as a scout, Jack’s full-time job was with British Rail. His life story became the subject of a book and documentary in 2001 by his lifelong friend Victor Jupp, a social researcher at Northumbria University.

At the time of the book’s release, Victor said: “Jack is arguably one of the most successful scouts in the football world. “I wanted to discover exactly what it was that he sees in players.’’

Jack became a great-granddad in May 2006. Baby Jack is the son of Jack and Eline Hixon’s granddaughter and grandson-in-law, Lynne and Tiernan Hawley. He was also the first grandchild for the Hixons’ only child, Brenda Anderson.