Charlie Harper

Born in the village of Selston in Nottinghamshire, Charlie Harper’s family moved to the Nottingham district of Bulwell where his father was a miner. Harper started work in a bleach factory but then joined the Bulwell Harriers and took up cross-country running. His build and style were not made for cross-country, however, and he turned to sprinting and went on to became one of the world’s best over 100 and 220 yards. Harper turned professional in 1887 and won his first race, and the accompanying prize of £15, at Nottingham. His biggest win came in the Sheffield Christmas Handicap in 1890 when he won the first prize of £100 (about £17,000 in 2023). He won the race again three years later and, after that win, he challenged any man in the world over 100 or 220 yards for a side bet of between £200 to £500.

After his racing days were over, Harper became a football trainer at Bristol City and Stockport County before spending five seasons at Middlesbrough, until taking the job at Bradford City in 1906. He left City at the end of the 1915/16 season, having installed a fitness regime into the club that saw them promoted to the first division and win the FA Cup for the only time in their history, beating Newcastle United in the 1911 final. After leaving football Harper became landlord of the Greenfield Hotel in Bradford and an establishment at Marton, near Blackpool, before returning to Bradford and taking up the training job at Bradford Northern RLFC at the start of the 1923/24 season, just six months before his death.

In 1894 Harper was involved in a much-publicised court case when his girlfriend Harriet Seagrave took him to court for breach of contract after Harper said he would marry her after winning his first Sheffield Christmas Handicap. He won the race in 1890 but claimed they were too you to marry so they decided to wait until after he won it a second time. Seagrave sued, and successfully won her case, after Harper still refused marriage after winning the race again in 1893.