Denis Thwaites

Denis Thwaites (born December 14, 1944 in Stockton-on-Tees , † June 26, 2015 in Port El-Kantaoui , Tunisia ) was an English football player .

Athletic career

Thwaites advanced to the Birmingham City competition team in the fall of 1961 at the age of 16 . The winger signed his first professional contract with the club in 1962 and came to regular appearances in the First Division at the beginning of the 1962/63 season due to an injury to the regular Bertie Auld . Although he was used more often in the following years, he ultimately missed the breakthrough due to a nervous disease , after which he could not play in front of large crowds, and ended his professional career at the age of 27 in 1972.

After his retirement, Thwaites found a job with the automobile manufacturer Rover , for whose operating team in Solihull he played in the 1970s. He later moved to Blackpool , where he worked as a doorman in a hospital.

While on vacation in Tunisia, on June 26, 2015, Thwaites and his wife, who was one year younger than him, fell victim to the attack on several hotels in Port El-Kantaoui , in which 38 people and the assassin armed with a Kalashnikov and hand grenades were killed. A minute's silence was observed during a pre-season game of his former club Birmingham City on August 1 against Leicester City .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} birminghammail.co.uk: "Ex-Birmingham City player Denis Thwaites and his wife confirmed dead in Tunisian terror attacks"
2. ↑ bbc.com: "Tunisia attack: Minute's silence for Denis Thwaites"