R.I.P. Keith Hepworth 1942-2024 : Fri Nov 15, 2024 8:06 am
Despite only playing 58 games for Hull FC between 1976 and 1979 it would be wrong not to mark the passing of a player who will be remembered well by many old timers who watched the club as the very under rated David Doyle Davidson was masterminding our club pulling itself out of the mire experienced in the mid 70's. By then in the twilight of his career Keith was of course one of the most famous half backs the game had ever seen, forming such a formidable partnership with Alan Hardisty at Castleford (for whom he played 329 games) that their under studies Roger Millward and Kenny Foulkes had to move on to Rovers and Hull respectively because they couldn't get a look in. In those days Cas had a real production line of half backs but heppy was the best of them. .
He is a folk hero in the West Yorkshire town where he starred before he moved onto Leeds to control their Star studied team. DD was slowly building the foundations that a year later Arthur Bunting would inherit and saw Heppy as a pivot to the team and a mentor to the other players. Slower and more ponderous than in his younger days he put in some great performances for us joining when our average gates were only 3,800 and he stayed on until 1979. Perhaps his finest hour was when he played in one of the most memorable nights under the Boulevard lights we can ever remember when in 1979 we won the the floodlit trophy against Rovers with 18,500 in the ground and a further 1800 locked out and gathered on the car park.
Partnering another aging great John Newlove, while Paul woods scooped the man of the match award, Heppy completely bossed Hall and Agar in the Rovers halves. In his 38th year he played on in the second half with a broken hand, but led the team magnificently.
On retiring I think he coached Bramley for a couple of years but it should also be remembered that with Tony Dean he took over coaching an ailing relegation haunted FC when Len Casey was sacked and saw the FC pull off the most unlikely of wins at Caravan Park to retain their first Division survival after a miraculous escape, that even the staunchest of us couldn't see coming.
He experienced a short period at the club but for those of us who saw him play he was a a magician at times with ball in hand, often feeding Boxall before he set off on a line braking rampaging run. And so it's a sad day again as another great player moves on.
I know many in Cas and Leeds will be remembering him fondly today, but despite a short spell at the club he helped lay the foundations for a golden age and so I just wanted to mark his passing as a great player when he played for us.
R.I.P. Keith Hepworth.
