Leicester City In 100 Players: Hugh Adcock
His mother worked as a doctor’s maid in a house on New Walk. He was only 5ft 4in tall and his diminutive stature enabled him to be a pit pony boy in the mines before he became a professional footballer.
He was signed for Leicester City by manager Peter Hodge, who went on to lay the foundations for City’s golden era of the late 1920s.
Only two players, Graham Cross and Adam Black, played more first team games than Hugh, who made 460 outings for City between 1923 and 1935, scoring 52 goals. He won a Second Division title medal in 1925 and was a key member of the side which came within a point of winning the league in 1929.
While at Filbert Street, Hugh played alongside such Leicester legends as Club captain and Scotland international Johnny Duncan, Club record goalscorer Arthur Chandler and England internationals Ernie Hine, Len Barry, Sid Bishop and Reg Osborne.
In 1929, Adcock won five England caps playing on the right wing, scoring one goal. His first three international matches were away games against France, Belgium and Spain in May 1929, with Len Barry playing on England’s left wing.
It was Hugh's first trip abroad and he travelled on a passport which is in the Club’s collection. He was also selected to play against Northern Ireland and Wales later that year, playing alongside Ernie Hine, at inside-right, and his cousin, Birmingham City’s Joe Bradford.
Hughie also represented the Football League against the Scottish League in November 1929. In 1935, after 12 seasons at Leicester City, he moved
to Bristol Rovers for a season before playing for Southern League Folkstone.
Returning to Leicestershire, he joined Ibstock Penistone Rovers and became landlord at the Horse and Trumpet in Sileby. An accomplished pianist and tenor, he was also a keen racegoer.
Just before the war, Hughie returned to his home town of Coalville where he became a maintenance engineer for many years at Clutsom and Kemp, a yarn and textile factory. After his retirement from the factory, Hugh continued to live in Coalville until he died in 1975, aged 72.