Sadly St Helens Legend Wilf Smith passed away on the 17th June.

His family kindly agreed for donations to go to The Steve Prescott Foundation.

Saints Historian Alex Service tells Wilf's incredible story.

Born in 1935, Wilf was a stalwart of his home-town club and was present at Langtree for the Players' Association luncheon a few weeks ago - as he always did - where he was in the company of his many friends and team-mates.

He was a stalwart of the St. Helens club - the ultimate clubman, in fact - and it is quite true to say that the game was in his blood. His father, Tommy, was a fine second-row forward with the old St. Helens Recs team between the wars and was part of the famous ‘Smith, Fildes and Mulvanney' back three!

Unfortunately, Tommy, who played more games for the Recs than anyone else [460] died when Wilf was in his very early childhood, but Wilf was naturally extremely proud of his father's achievements. The family rugby links have continued: it should also be noted that Wilf's son-in-law is Gary Connol

ly, who enjoyed a fine career in club and international football.

Wilf was a great all-round footballer, with good hands and a clinical tackler. He signed for the Saints from the Clock Face amateur club on 15 September 1955 and learned his trade in the ‘A' team before making his debut against Halifax at Knowsley Road, on 12 November 1955. He was stand-off that afternoon, with his great friend Austin Rhodes at scrum-half. The Saints won 13-8 in front of over 18,000 and at hooker was Frank McCabe, whose death was also recently reported.

His progress was rapid and he formed a superb partnership at stand-off outside the legendary scrum-half Alex Murphy in 1958/59, a season when the Saints won the Championship Final after an epic 44-22 victory over Hunslet. Wilf scored a magical try in the second half, slicing through the opposition defence in a 30 yard run to the line.

His last game for the Saints was on the subs bench with Bobby Wanbon against Swinton at Knowsley Road on April 7 1969, when the home team won 40-5. Wilf made 205 appearances overall, scoring 55 tries during his fourteen years as a Saint. He spent much of his latter years at Knowsley Road helping out the youngsters in the A team.

Wilf took up a coaching position with Blackpool Borough and became Assistant Coach at Wigan in the early 1980s, before becoming involved with the amateur game at Blackbrook and Bold.

He remained knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the modern game and was inducted into the Saints' Players Association Hall of Fame, an honour he particularly cherished.

He was a lovely man, who always had time for a chat and he was well-respected in the wider rugby league community.

Thank you to Wilf's family and friends who donated raising £625 for the SPF.