Ted Clamp

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Ted Clamp (1924—1990) was an English footballer who gained considerable local renown as a goalkeeper for various teams during the 1940s, 50s and early 60s.

A native of the Gresley region in South Derbyshire, Ted Clamp started to play football during World War II and soon afterwards accepted offers to play for teams such as Buxton, Bolton and Derby County. He was a talented goalie and towards the end of the 1950s was rubbing shoulders with the likes of Stanley Matthews and Billy Steel, including being featured in Steel's 1948 book, How to Play Football.

At the end of the 1950s, as Clamp entered his mid-thirties, his career slowed and, by the early 1960s, he began to spend more time on the boards of clubs than on the playing field, ceasing his goalie career by the middle of the decade. At the end of the 60s, as his name value faded, he became a bookie in the town of Swadlincote, which adjoins Gresley.

In the year of his 66th birthday, while visiting a library, Ted Clamp died of a heart attack. His sister, Noreen, with whom he lived throughout his life, died eleven years later, in 2001.