TED Hemsley was among the last in an illustrious line of sportsmen to have played both cricket and football professionally.

On April 28, 1971, Hemsley entered the Sheffield United hall of fame as a member of the Blades squad that clinched promotion to the old First Division but, just 34 days later, he was walking out to bat for Worcestershire against Yorkshire.

Hemsley, who scored nigh on 10,000 first-class runs for Worcestershire, was still a schoolboy when he signed professional terms with Shrewsbury Town in 1961.

It was around the same time he was offered a deal at New Road.

He said: "I spent every spare minute of my life playing sport and Shrewsbury Town started to show a bit of interest while I was still at school.

"I played cricket to a decent standard, too, and Shrewsbury and Worcestershire both wrote during the same week, asking if I would join the staff. Football in the winter, cricket in the summer; it was too good to be true.

"There were a few cricketer-footballers around at the time, people like Jim Cumbes, Chris Balderstone, Jim Standen, Graham Cross and Phil Neale. But of course it couldn't happen today."

Hemsley, aged 62, moved to Bramall Lane in 1968 after making 215 appearances for the Shrews.

He was also mentioned as a possible England batsman when he helped Worcestershire, for whom he played 243 first-class games and 219 one-dayers, to the County Championship in 1974.

Hemsley, who now works as a betting ring manager at several northern racecourses, added: "At the time, most people would have given their right arm to play either sport as a professional and I was lucky enough to play both.

"I played alongside some wonderful players in both sports -- people like Len Badger, Tony Currie and Alan Woodward at United and Tom Graveney, Glenn Turner and Basil D'Oliveira at Worcestershire."