Former Bristol Rovers striker Tommy Cook has been honoured with a tablet on his grave.
Cook joined Bristol Rovers in October 1931, initially on a one-month trial, but was presented with a contract until 1933 and made 42 appearances for Rovers.
The striker was Bristol Rovers’ top goal scorer in the 1931-32 season, with 17 goals in all competitions. That season Rovers finished 18th in the Third Division South League, as they won 11 games, drew 8 and lost 21.
The following season, Rovers had a far better campaign and finished ninth in the league, winning 15 games, drawing 11 and losing 13.
In the 1932-33 season, Viv Gibbons overtook Cook and was Bristol’s top goal scorer that season, with 15 goals.
When Cook played for the Pirates, they reached the second round of the 1931/32 FA Cup, and the third round the following year.
He retired through injury in 1933 and concentrated on his highly successful cricket career with Sussex.
His all-time record tally of 123 goals between 1922 and 1929 for Brighton and Hove Albion is unlikely to be bettered in modern times. A brilliant double sportsman, he also scored 20,198 runs for Sussex.
Cook died aged 49 in 1950 after suffering ill health.
Phil Dennett, 70, of Burgess Hill, Sussex, whose grandfather played for the Albion, decided to get a memorial stone laid on the grave after seeing the worn-out state of its headstone last year while researching a book on Tommy Cook.
Albion agreed to pay for the inscription and local funeral directors Gallaghers gave the granite tablet, as well as tidying up the weather-beaten headstone.
Dennett said: “He had a phenomenal scoring rate through his career and maintained it with the Pirates, but injury caught up with him. He was great admirer of the Pirates manager [Albert] Prince-Cox and said he wished he had played under him much earlier in his career.”
