Gordon Banks

Gordon Banks was born in Abbeydale, Sheffield. Leaving school at age fifteen, Banks worked as a coal bagger and ditch digger while playing amateur football for Millspaugh. Signed by Chesterfield in 1955 and moving to Leicester City in 1959, Banks established himself as the premier goalkeeper in England, helping Leicester win the League Cup in 1964 and reach two FA Cup finals.

Appointed England's first-choice goalkeeper by manager Alf Ramsey in 1963, Banks played every minute of England's 1966 World Cup campaign. He kept four consecutive clean sheets in the group stage and quarter-final, not conceding a single goal from open play until the final, where England defeated West Germany 4-2 to claim their only World Cup crown.

At the 1970 World Cup in Guadalajara, Mexico, Banks authored the most celebrated save in football history against Brazil. Facing a bullet downward header from Pelé destined for the bottom corner, Banks threw himself across the goalmouth, anticipation and reflexes defying physics as he scooped the ball with his right hand over the crossbar. Pelé later said: 'I shouted goal, but Banks appeared out of nowhere like a phantom.' Moving to Stoke City in 1967, Banks won the 1972 League Cup before a car accident cost him the sight in his right eye, concluding an immortal career.