HUDDERSFIELD referee Reg Mortimer, below, was handed the prestigious honour of taking charge of the FA Cup final at Wembley.
His apppointment for the end-of-season showpiece was very gratifying to the Huddersfield Sunday Schools League.
It was they who had set him on the road to stardom with the whistle.
The secretary of the local referees' board, finding himself on a Friday night with a Sunday Schools League match without an official and knowing that Milnsbridge Baptist, for whom Mortimer played, were also without a game, asked him to step into the breach.
Mortimer found the experience so fascinating that he gave up playing and sat for his whistlers' examination.
It didn't take long for him to pass those exams and earn a place on the senior referees' list.
While he didn't know it at the time, the final was to be between Wolves and Leicester, with the men from Molineux earning a 3-1 win.
Mortimer also took charge of Wolves' 1-0 quarter-final win over Black Country rivals West Brom.
