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Stan Mortensen
| Category: | Male Player |
| Year Inducted: | 2003 |
Profile by Robert Galvin, the author of Football's Greatest Heroes, the official book of the National Football Museum Hall of Fame:
Stan Mortensen, the England forward nicknamed ‘Electric Heels' in recognition of his lightning pace, was the first player to score a hat-trick in an FA Cup Final at Wembley.
Respected within the game for his courage and indefatigable spirit, Mortensen was admired on the terraces for his goalscoring skill and sportsmanship.
‘England owes much to Stan Mortensen, for his spirit, for his biting at the most meagre morsel thrown up by an attack, for his sheer invincibility,' Walter Winterbottom said. ‘He was a lionheart.'
A Tynesider by birth, Mortensen arrived in Blackpool at the age of 16, and chose to stay once his career was over, opening a postcard shop on the Golden Mile. A loyal servant, he played 395 games, scoring 225 goals.
The scorer of a then record 30 FA Cup goals, his most celebrated performance in a tangerine shirt turned the 1953 FA Cup Final against Bolton Wanderers on its head. From three-one down, Blackpool completed a remarkable comeback with a winning goal in injury time.
Mortensen had secured a place in the record books, yet it wouldn't be enough for the newspaper headline writers. According to them, this was ‘The Matthews Final', the day the veteran winger finally achieved his greatest ambition in the game.
‘Forget what the papers thought,' Matthews said later. It was always “The Mortensen Final” as far as I was concerned. The papers should all have been writing about Mortie. To score a hat-trick at Wembley was a fantastic achievement.'
At the end of the game, Mortensen lifted Matthews onto his shoulder in tribute. ‘The maestro did a great deal to turn it round and it was inevitable the focus was on him.'
With his side losing at half-time that day, Mortensen walked over to congratulate Nat Lofthouse, the Bolton centre-forward, for his feat in scoring in every round of the competition.
Such sportsmanship was nothing new. In 1948, at the end of a thrilling FA Cup Final, won 4-2 by Manchester United, Mortensen praised his opponents: ‘It was a privilege to have been part of the game even though we lost.'
Originally considered too slow to make the grade, Mortensen trained intensively to improve his speed after being grounded by the RAF after his bomber crashed on landing during the Second World War.
When official competition resumed, Mortensen made his full England debut in 1947, scoring four goals against Portugal, followed by a hat-trick against Sweden later in the year.
Perhaps his finest moment in international football came in 1948, when England travelled to Turin to face a powerful Italy side. Running onto a Matthews pass, Mortensen beat two defenders, cut back, before shooting into the roof of the net from a narrow angle.
England were on their way to a famous 4-0 win. ‘I've never known a stadium fall so silent,' Walter Winterbottom said. ‘The Italians were stunned by Stan's goal.'
Between 1947 and 1953, Mortensen made 25 appearances for England, many of them alongside his more famous Blackpool team-mate, scoring 23 goals.
‘Mortie was barrel-chested, and he had cornflake-box shoulders and legs like bags of concrete,' Matthews said. ‘I can't ever recall him being knocked off the ball and when he went after it, he did so with demonic enthusiasm.'
‘His change in direction and speed threw his markers. He had great ability to swivel and turn his body, and that helped him shield the ball when he received it.
‘Stan wasn't the tallest of forwards but when he went for a header he seemed able to defy gravity and hang in the air for ages.'