Farewell Charlie Hurley - a true Sunderland legend whose legacy will endure

On Wearside Charlie Hurley is one of three things: Your favourite player, your parents' favourite player or your grandparents' favourite player.

Such was the reverence he inspired, even those of us of a generation not fortunate enough to witness it can in our mind's eye picture him playing. To be Sunderland is to know the legend of The King. The towering centre-half, indomitable in the air. The elegance on the ball and the growing din of Roker Park as he headed forward for a corner. Football and theatre, a player ahead of his time.

Hurley's achievements as a player speak for themselves. Over 400 appearances in red-and-white, speaking to a consistency and resilience at a club where the highs are dizzying and the lows punishing. Hurley, as those who knew him will attest, had the grace to meet both with good humour. After his second appearance for the club ended in a 6-0 defeat, he remarked to the Sunderland Echo's Argus that there were clear signs of progress. His debut, after all, had finished 7-0.

They were trying beginnings but they did not last. Hurley would go on to be the spiritual leader and star turn of one of the club's most treasured teams, the class of 1963/4 who would win promotion and push the Manchester United of Best, Law et al through three FA Cup Quarter final ties. The bonds forged in that dressing room would last a lifetime, and so too the admiration from the terraces. So good was Hurley that season that only Bobby Moore was voted ahead of him as the FWA Player of the Year, a remarkable achievement for a then second-tier player and a sign of the esteem in which he was held not just by the adoring Roker crowd but right across the game.

To try and explain Hurley's enduring appeal through statistics and achievements alone, though, would miss the point entirely. His generosity of spirit and habit of making time for anyone were as well known as his qualities at the heart of defence and Hurley, like Niall Quinn who would follow in his footsteps, showed that if you love Sunderland then it will love you back: as a person every bit as much as a footballer.

The King's legacy on Wearside is the most precious and hardest-earned of all, to have a name that needs no introduction. Charlie, synonymous with class. A name that serves as a thread between generations, a symbol of the love and loyalty that binds and endures.

RIP Charlie Hurley: the greatest centre-half the world has ever seen.

You can watch our special podcast celebrating the life of Charlie Hurley with club historian Rob Mason in the video attached to this article, or on our YouTube page here