West Ham goalkeeper who made 481 appearances for the club
The goalkeeper Ernie Gregory, who has died aged 90, had a career with West Ham United that spanned an astonishing half-century. "They don't bump Ernie Gregory," said one knowing journalist of the 6ft 2in player. Indeed they did not: Gregory was ideally built for the physical challenges to which keepers were subjected in those days; they had little of the protection now afforded to them by referees. Gregory made 481 appearances between the sticks for the Hammers and after his last match, in 1959, he was active as a coach for the club until his retirement in 1987.
Born in Stratford, east London, Gregory was good with his fists as a boy; he would recount, with a mixture of pride and faint remorse, how his friends were constantly matching him against other street fighters, and how he would always win. He joined the Hammers straight from school in 1936, after playing for West Ham Boys, and then had a short attachment to the prominent east London amateur club Leytonstone. He returned to West Ham before the outbreak of the second world war, during which he served with the Essex Regiment and the RAF.
After the agile, much smaller keeper Harry Medhurst left West Ham for Chelsea in 1946, Gregory became the club's first-choice keeper. He made his league debut for the Hammers at the end of that year, in a 4-1 victory against Plymouth Argyle. The club remained in the second division for the next dozen years, during which time the rugged Gregory held his own. In one game at Upton Park, the hulking, red-haired Sheffield Wednesday centre-forward Derek Dooley, by his own admission, surreptitiously held Gregory down with him on the ground, enabling another Wednesday forward to shoot into an empty goal. When it came to the return match at Hillsborough, Dooley left the field with a torn jersey and Gregory's stud marks on his chest.
In 1952 Gregory made an appearance for the England B team in a match against France. The Hammers then gained promotion after a victorious 1957-58 season in which Gregory made 37 appearances in 42 matches. In their first season in the top flight, Gregory played in 32 of the league games. But in March 1959, he was succeeded by the young Irish goalkeeper Noel Dwyer. Gregory had one more league game for the club in the next season, then joined the coaching staff and initially looked after the reserves team. A valued tutor, he worked with such accomplished keepers as Phil Parkes and Mervyn Day. In time, he was used by West Ham to watch and report on their future opponents.
Buoyant, vigorous and genial, imbued with cockney humour, Gregory continued to attend West Ham's games at Upton Park.
His wife, Yvonne, and his daughter predeceased him.
• Ernest Gregory, footballer, born 10 November 1921; died 21 January 2012