In the sixth part of a new series commemorating the 50th anniversary of West Ham United’s fantastic FA Cup final triumph, we catch-up with former WBC world welterweight boxing champion JOHN H STRACEY, who found himself up close and personal with the Hammers during the 1974/75 campaign...
The year 1975 was certainly a knockout one for London’s East End.
While the Hammers battled their way to the FA Cup glory over Fulham in the merry month of May, Bethnal Green’s John H Stracey then cleverly boxed his way to a wonderful world-title triumph in December.
“As a kid, I wanted to be a singer but was always getting myself into lots of scraps,” admits the 73-year-old. “My Dad said: ‘If you’re going to fight, go and fight properly!’ He took me to Repton Boxing Club and I absolutely loved it.”
Indeed, going on to win over a century over amateur bouts, Stracey represented Great Britain at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico before becoming the Amateur Boxing Association’s light-welterweight champion the following year, ahead of turning professional.
Boxing and singing may have been John’s passions but football was up there on the podium, too.
“Growing up in Bethnal Green I really should’ve been a West Ham United fan,” he concedes. “But my cousins lived in north London and, in 1960, they took me to Tottenham Hotspur. Aged ten, I was so impressed with that long name for a football team and when Spurs double-winning side beat Fulham 5-1 in front of 56,270 people at White Hart Lane, I was sold. I thought: ‘I’m with them.’
“Later in life, I was forever embarrassing [future Hammers striker] Jimmy Greaves, telling him he was my boyhood hero. The greatest, Greavesie scored goals wherever he played – back in the early-60s, he earned twenty-quid per week, whereas they would’ve been paying him millions today.
“I went to watch West Ham, too, and once I’d turned professional in 1969, I’d go the Boleyn Ground, whenever I was injured. My manager, Terry Lawless, knew the Club’s physio, Rob Jenkins, who’s a lovely man and one of the funniest blokes I’ve met.
“I’d find myself at the stadium every few weeks and whether it was my hand, arm, shoulder or leg, Rob got to work. Everything was so casual and it was hard to believe I was in the treatment room rubbing shoulders with World Cup winners, Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters.
“I knew that I was going to have fun whenever I went there,” smiles Stracey. “Manager Ron Greenwood – who was always very nice to me – would say: ‘John’s here again!’
“Everyone was so friendly and welcoming. People were genuinely pleased to see each other and they’d constantly be laughing and joking. It was so relaxed and more like a social club than one of England’s biggest football clubs.
“Rob would wire me up to his machine and turn-up the dial to maximum before grinning: ‘Who do you support? Tottenham? Or West Ham?’ With all those electronic pulses running through me, I’d be screaming: ‘I’m West Ham, Rob! I’m West Ham!’
“At times, he’d just walk around treating players and I got to meet all the boys – Frankie Lampard, Brian Dear, Pat Holland, Harry Redknapp, Clyde Best, Bobby Ferguson, Mervyn Day…
“Bobby Moore would come indoors having run up and down the terraces and done his laps around the pitch. The sweat just poured off him and he’d stand there in puddles of water before opening cans of beer for everyone!
“We’d all go out in Stratford and, although he never drank a drop, Trevor Brooking would come along for the social side of things. Just like Sir Trevor and Mooro, I’d started life in Upney hospital, where England’s Rugby World Cup-winner – Jason Leonard - was born, too. There was something about that place when it came to producing sportsmen.
“I’d play golf with ‘Pop’ Robson and we became really good friends,” reveals John. “After I won the British welterweight title at the Royal Albert Hall in 1973, ‘Pop’ came into my dressing room, where we wrapped my Lonsdale Belt around him.”
But in New Year 1975, there was a game-changing, serious side to John’s trips to Upton Park, too.
“As European welterweight champion, I was about to face the American Hedgemon Lewis back at the Royal Albert Hall but having strained my hand in training, I went to Rob for some heat treatment.
“My stomach felt dodgy, too, and when he pressed down on it, I screamed in agony. ‘You’ve got appendicitis,’ cursed Rob, who rushed me to Royal London Hospital. I was so lucky he'd spotted it because if it’d ruptured, I would’ve been in all sorts of trouble. Rob saved me that day!
“The fight now cancelled, Hedgemon came across to Whitechapel to wish me a speedy recovery. I thought I was hallucinating, though, when I also saw actor Ryan O’Neal standing at my bedside but they shared the same management team and he’d come along to wish me well, too.”
Jenkins’ quick-thinking thankfully ensured that Stracey made a full recovery and, in the build-up to the 1975 FA Cup final he was, once again, a familiar face down West Ham way.
“I went to the first semi-final against Ipswich Town at Villa Park with my long-standing Hammers-supporting mate, Dougie Shepherd,” he recalls. “It was an awful 0-0 draw and, although I didn’t go to the Stamford Bridge replay, I was pleased when Alan Taylor got his two goals in their 2-1 win.
“Just before the final, I was invited to the Boleyn Ground for a photoshoot with the boys and they chose Keith Robson to spar with me on the pitch.
“I kept warning him: ‘Don’t get too close.’ Keith’s such a lovely fella but he just didn’t listen and I accidentally gave him a right old whack. ‘Robbo, you got too close!’ I told him afterwards.”
“I didn’t go to Wembley but was glad for Dougie, Ray Winstone and all my West Ham mates, when Alan Taylor got another couple of goals in the 2-0 win.
“A lot of people felt sorry for Mooro and Fulham but I honestly believe that, in his own way, Bobby was glad that West Ham won the FA Cup,” contends Stracey. “Later on, I spoke to him about it and he just said: ‘Sometimes, John, there’s nothing you can you do about these things.’
“Obviously, he hadn’t wanted to lose the final but because it was his old team – and not just any other side – I don’t think he minded that much?”
Seven months after the Hammers had floored Fulham at Wembley, John found himself heading to Mexico City to challenge long-standing champion, José Nápoles, for the World Boxing Council’s welterweight title.
“It’s so hard to adjust in Mexico City because it’s 7,350 feet above sea level. Tourists get altitude sickness and when I’d got off the plane at the 1968 Olympics, I’d only half-walked and half-jogged to get my bags and still couldn’t breathe. I was a fit fighter but the air’s so thin and knew I now needed time to acclimatise.
“I travelled out a month beforehand to get onto the same wavelength as Nápoles and ensure I could go the full 15 rounds if needed,” reveals Stracey, recalling his clash with the Cuban-born, Mexican-based boxer at the hostile Plaza de Toros bullring. “All three judges were Mexican. The referee was Mexican. And there were over 40,000 Mexicans in the crowd, too.
“I needed to knock him out just to get a draw!” jests John who found himself on the canvas within 90 seconds before bravely finding his feet to stop Nápoles in the sixth-round – a defeat that sent the crestfallen gladiator into retirement with a record of just seven defeats in 81 fights.
“Winning that world title was the greatest and it’s a moment I’ll never forget. I put on a sombrero and went out to ten bars but no-one would serve us given we’d just beaten their champion.
“It was a different story when we got home to the East End, though. I got invited to the town hall and driving along Bethnal Green Road got a truly fantastic reception. The market traders left their stalls to greet me, while people came out of the pubs and pie ‘n’ mash shops to wave and cheer. Yes, 1975 was the greatest time.”
John eventually retired after winning 45 and drawing one of his 51 professional contests and, now as England’s oldest-surviving world champion, he lives on the Wirral peninsula with his wife of 30 years, Kathy-Jane.
A World Boxing Council ambassador, Stracey was awarded an MBE in the late Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2022 – her platinum jubilee year – for his tireless services to charitable fundraising.
“Growing up, we were big on the Royal Family,” says the proud patriot, who has generated thousands of pounds for good causes down the years. “We’d get the train from Whitechapel to Buckingham Palace and look through the railings to see if we could wave to the Queen.
“Those trips developed a love and loyalty for my country. Whenever I climbed into the ring, I was fighting for Great Britain. I’d tell my parents: ‘One day, I’ll walk through those gates.’ I’ve been there four times now and, on every occasion, it’s been amazing.
“It’s lovely on the Wirral and I’m largely retired nowadays but I still do bits and pieces trying to raise monies for kids’ charities, while enjoying my singing, too,” concludes John whose go-to number is fittingly ‘My Way’ “I still enjoy coming back down south and, in July, spent a great afternoon at Worldwide Signings in Romford meeting some old faces.
“I’ve got lots to thank the Hammers for and I had fantastic times being in and around the Football Club – yes, West Ham United will always be in my heart.”