Jim Kenyon: Sports administrator, cricketer and coach who nurtured the careers of many future Test players
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Your support makes all the difference.Jim Kenyon was a man of many parts. By profession a football administrator of long standing, he also served the game of cricket with unswerving devotion. Notable among the many players whose early careers he helped shape were the England stars Michael Vaughan and Andrew Flintoff. As secretary of the Lancashire Football Association from 1963 he had responsibility for all aspects of the game below Football League level; at its peak he was in charge of some 2,000 clubs and 1.300 referees. When he retired some 42 years later he had overseen a move to a £1m state-of-the-art sporting complex in Leyland.
A fine all-round cricketer, he was an aggressive left-handed middle order and occasional opening bat. He made his mark as a 16-year-old for Farnworth in the Bolton League, helping them to the league title. From 1964-80 he enjoyed sustained success as an amateur for East Lancs in the Lancashire League, one of the strongest club sides in the country. Aiding the team were some of the finest overseas professionals, players of the calibre of Neil Hawke, Allan Border and Trevor Chappell.
His name will forever be linked with East Lancs; in 402 games he scored 6,350 runs and took over 400 wickets. In 1969 he represented Lancashire in the Minor Counties Championship. He made an even deeper impression as a coach; at Stand CC his input proved pivotal in the development of the Lancashire and England wicketkeeper Warren Hegg. The driving force behind the Coach Education Programme, he took charge of the first overseas players' coaching course which included the West Indian s Gus Logie, Roger Harper and Malcolm Marshall.
James Kenyon, cricketer, footballer and sports administrator: born Darwen 24 March 1942; died Poulton-le -Fylde 3 September 2013.
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