Source: Liverpool_Echo
Everton legend Dave 'Cannonball Kid' Hickson celebrates 80th birthday
Dave Hickson 460[LNB]HE was described by a former correspondent of this newspaper as 'soccer's stormiest petrel.'[LNB]Nowadays, Davey Hickson is more akin to a wise old owl - a Great Horned Owl obviously given his still impressive quiff - and last night he celebrated his 80th birthday in a surprise party staged at Goodison Park.[LNB]Hickson is one of Merseyside football's greatest treasures.[LNB]Let us not forget he represented all three clubs of this city with passion and distinction, although there has never been any doubt where his heart lies.[LNB]He is an Everton man from the tip of his trademark quiff to the toecaps of his shooting boots - which he was still pulling on only a decade ago in charity matches.[LNB]The visit of Aston Villa to Goodison Park today is both timely and appropriate.[LNB]Because The Claret and Blues have figured significantly in this particular Blue Blood's Braveheart career.[LNB]It was Joe Royle who first coined the phrase 'Davey would often come off the pitch covered in blood....some of it his own.'[LNB]And it was Hickson's courageous display in front of nearly 78,000 fans, when he staggered back onto the pitch, blood seeping from a gashed eyebrow, to head a Goodison winner against Manchester United that set up an FA Cup quarter-final at Villa Park.[LNB] Of course he scored the winner that day, too.[LNB]As he did when Aston Villa provided the opposition for his Liverpool debut in November 1959, when Hickson scored twice.[LNB]That particular transfer made Nick Barmby's decision to cross Stanley Park look like an afterthought.[LNB]The Echo sports pages of the day were crammed - literally crammed - with letter, after letter, after letter.
