Albion saddened by death of former winger
DEREK HOGG 1930-2014
The club was saddened to hear of the recent passing of Derek Hogg on Monday November 3rd.
Derek was an outside-left who joined the club from Leicester City in the summer of 1958, coming into a powerful Albion side, some four years after we had won the FA Cup and come within a hair’s breadth of carrying off the 20th century’s first double.
It was a side that included Ronnie Allen, Don Howe, Bobby Robson, Derek Kevan and the great Ray Barlow, led by perhaps our finest ever manager, Vic Buckingham who was looking to construct his second great team at The Hawthorns.
Derek arrived as very much a part of those plans, for while we had finished fourth in the First Division the previous season, the team was beginning to show signs of age. Cup winning winger George Lee was about to step down for good while his sometime replacement Roy Horobin had been somewhat inconsistent.
The County Durham born Hogg had been performing well at Filbert Street as Leicester fended off the spectre of relegation and so Albion pounced, spending the not inconsiderable sum of £20,000 on the 27 year old Hogg.
He made his debut for the Throstles in a 1-1 draw at Luton’s Kenilworth Road on August 23rd 1958, his Hawthorns bow coming four days later as we were held 2-2 by Birmingham City, Hogg making a fine start on home soil by scoring one of the goals.
With Derek Kevan powering through the middle, it was Hogg’s job to provide the ammunition for The Tank, a job for which he was perfectly suited, slinging in cross after cross from the left wing, Kevan slicing through defences to get on the end of them and bullet headers into the opposition goal – he ended with 29 goals for the season, plenty of them coming from a Hogg centre.
Derek had a reasonable eye for goal himself too, knocking in six games in 43 league and cup games that season, including one in a 4-1 trouncing of Villa in Aston as they tumbled towards relegation. Less celebrated was his dismissal at Elland Road two days after Christmas, making him the first Albion player to be sent off in a league game in 22 years. In spite of that, Albion beat Leeds United 1-0.
We finished fifth that season, another decent return, and Derek continued to be a regular the following year, now under the management of Gordon Clark following Buckingham’s resignation, Hogg helping himself to a further five goals in the process, two of then in games either side of Christmas as he enjoyed a happier holiday this time out, Albion winning at Manchester United and Nottingham Forest.
The Throstles finished fourth but as 1960/61 dawned, the game was beginning to change and Albion were looking to change with it. Slowly, it became the norm to play with just one winger, and Albion tended to favour Alec Jackson on the right. On 15th October 1960, Derek played in a 1-0 win over West Ham United at The Hawthorns and so brought down the curtain on his Albion career after playing 87 times and scoring 12 goals. He moved onto Cardiff City and from there to Kettering Town where he ended his playing career.