Roger Mann: Remembering Torbay's own Wimbledon hero

Retro Sport with Roger Mann:

After a week when the newspapers have been full of pictures of Roger Federer’s last tournament appearance, and Sue Barker’s final Wimbledon contribution, I felt that it was a good time to share some memories of Torbay’s own Wimbledon hero, Mike Sangster.

I was nervous as I took my seat in the changing room for my first soccer house match at Torquay Boys' Grammar School.

One by one, I was hanging each of my clothes on the single peg above me when the big lad next to me turned and said quietly: “Haven’t you got any shin-pads?”

I told him that I had forgotten them, so he reached into his bag and said: “Borrow these!”

That brief encounter was the first of many that Mike Sangster and I shared on the playing fields of Shiphay.

However, in the years to come, when we reminisced about our school days, despite all the football matches, it was an afternoon of hockey that we remembered most!

At the end of one Easter term, the school notice board announced that the Girls' Grammar School had issued our first XI with a challenge to a game of hockey.

None of our lads had ever played the game but we knew that we were much bigger and fitter than a 'load of girls'. No problem there then!'

As it turned out, we got soundly beaten in front of the whole girls’ school!

What made it much worse was that we were physically beaten up too!

Back in the changing room, Mike and I compared bruises, and he turned to me and said: “I’m being told that I could make my living at almost any sport I choose... Well, it’s not going to be hockey!”

While playing soccer for the school, Mike, Paul Hawkins and Gerald Evans, were spotted by Ralph Calland, and all went on to play for Torquay United’s 'A' team.

They trained at Plainmoor on two evenings a week, and despite being offered professional terms by West Ham United, Mike made a wise choice, and chose tennis.

As a footballer, Mike was tall, strong, and wonderfully athletic.

Although he started as a centre-half, he blossomed into an inside-left with a canon-ball right-footed shot. He had good ball control, and was a strong tackler.

But, as he was the first to admit, he was a bit slow off the mark, and his left leg was just for standing on.

After leaving school, I lost touch with Mike as his tennis career went from strength to strength. All those Grand Slam semi-finals don’t need listing here.

Ten years after his Wimbledon exploits, and completely out of the blue, I received a phone call from Mike asking to be 'considered for membership' of our newly formed football team, The Torbay Gentlemen.

It was typical of Mike that he should be so modest, but, of course, we welcomed him with open arms.

He spent several seasons with the Gents, and entered the spirit of everything we did.

He was always too busy to join us on tour, but dressed up for our team photos, and took a role in the Visnews film which was distributed around the world.

I remember sitting in a changing room, next to him, on a wet day in the South Hams.

As the rain poured down, he turned to me and said: “It’s not often that I say this, but, today, I wish we were playing on a hard court and not a grass one!”

When Mike died, suddenly, on the golf course, in 1985, we were all devastated.

How could we lose someone so fit and strong at the age of just 44?

On that fateful day, did God just pick the rosiest apple on the tree, or did he decide that Mike was just too good for this tawdry world?

What I am sure of is that, on that golf course, we all lost a very special person.

Mike was always pleasant, kind, modest, honest, and sincere in all his dealings.

If someone cracked a dirty joke, Mike would always smile, but never respond.

Perhaps, if he had not been one of the world’s greatest tennis players, he would have made a perfect James Bond!