Tommy Prest.

Tom was born in Darwen, and was a inside right who played with the Salmoners at youth and reserve level before making his Combination debut in 1926, He was a member of the Darwen teams that were beaten in the Lancashire Junior Cup finals of 1929 and 1930, He was spotted playing with Tockholes Youth team at sixteen and signed for Darwen the following year. He also played cricket for Darwen throughout his football career. The day after playing in the Lancs Junior cup final of 1930, Tom was signed by Burnley for a fee of £600 the highest Darwen had ever received for a player up to that time. He played many times for the Clarets in the following four seasons before being transferred to Aldershot were he spent three years before a back injury forced him to retire from the game. In later life Tom became a familiar figure in snooker circles in the town.

Acknowledgements for the history in this section are made to :  Darwen RBL -- who originally published this page in 2002