Fred Whittaker

Frederick John Rennie Whittaker... soccer family (uncle Albert)... lived in Vancouver until age 65, then moved to Aldergrove, BC... he was 83 years old when he passed away on 29 September 2006... served for Royal Canadian Artillery, Canadian Infantry Corps during World War II... worked for Eaton’s for 49 years... was a member of Legion 265...

honoured by the Canada Soccer Hall of Fame as a player (he was shortlisted as an original alternate by The Soccer Hall of Fame in 2000 and then honoured as part of the Class of 2002)... posthumously honoured by the Soccer Hall of Fame of British Columbia...

with North Vancouver’s North Shore United FC, a Dominion of Canada Football Championship winner (Challenge Trophy in 1949)... a two-time Pacific Coast League winner (1948-49, 1950-51)... an nine-time all-star selection in a 13-year span from 1942 to 1954... over the course of his career, he scored 156 goals in the Pacific Coast Soccer League (he was the second player to reach the 100-goal milestone on 28 October 1950; he was the first player to reach the 150-goal milestone on 21 April 1954)... he retired as the Pacific Coast League’s all-time scoring leader (156 goals from 1941 to 1955, a record later surpassed by Art Hughes)... he led the Pacific Coast League in scoring six times and was the second-highest scorer in both the 1940s (90 goals scored) and 1950s (tied with 66 goals scored)... he was St. Saviours / Vancouver City FC’s fifth-best goalscorer across their post-1939 Pacific Coast League history (53 goals scored across two stints from 1940-41 to 1943-44 and 1947-48 to 1948-49, fifth best behind Neil McEachnie’s 99 goals)... he was North Shore United FC’s second-best goalscorer across their post-1939 Pacific Coast League history (101 goals scored across two stints, 1945-46 and from 1948-49 to 1953-54, second best behind Jimmy Spencer’s 120 goals), notably the team’s top goalscorer in five-straight seasons from 1949-50 to 1953-54... in 2000, one of 17 inaugural alternates shortlisted by The Soccer Hall of Fame (he became an honoured member as part of the Class of 2002)... in lacrosse, a Mann Cup winner...

as noted in 1941, “Whittaker is a clever leader, but he has an amazing repertoire of annoying tricks”... as noted in the Montréal Gazette, he was “fast and clever and can shoot hard with both feet”... wrote Ralph Cosier in 1945, Whittaker was “a player of the never-say-die spirit”... wrote Garth Dykes (Meadown Lane Men) of Whittaker’s cameo appearances in goal for Notts County, “if a little unorthodox in his method, Fred won high praise on both occasions, starring in a 1:1 draw at Bristol City and in a 1:0 victory over Reading at Meadow Lane”... wrote the Canadian Press in February 1948, “as Fred Whittaker goes so goes Vancouver City”... as noted in a 1950 all-star program, “very fast, strong and clever with his head; a goal-scoring menace to the opposition whenever he is on the field; a special terror to goalkeepers”... as noted in October 1951, he was "the best centre forward in the business on this coast"... wrote the Vancouver Province in 1950, Fred Whittaker is “big, very fast and excellent with his head”... wrote Austin Delany in 1951, Fred is “a robust player and an opportunist; always dangerous”... wrote Bob Harrison in 1951, “Fred Whittaker is certainly the one-man gang of soccer. With Fred in the lineup, you can be sure that the forwards will hustle”... as noted in a 1951 all-star program, “generally agreed the most dangerous attacker in the Coast League; deceptively fast; seldom shoots hard; places ball with feet and head; unselfish with ball but seldom misses a chance of his own”... as noted in a 1954 all-star program, “can place ball with his head and feet and is fast for a big man”... wrote Roy Jukich in 1963, “Fred Whittaker was regarded as one of the toughest players in soccer and lacrosse in his day”... wrote Vince Leah in 1973, Whittaker was “a smashing centre forward in his day”...