Debut: Vs Halifax (A) 2nd November 1895

Leeds Appearances: 179

Leeds Honours: Yorkshire Cup (Finalist 1892),

Many of the sport’s eminent historians write glowingly about Hunslet’s Albert Goldthorpe, but there is a case to say that, in the early part of his career, he was not even the best centre playing in the city.

There was another young prodigy, Tommy Summersgill, born in the alphabet streets of Kirkstall, who made his debut at Cardigan Fields on 6 September 1890, aged 17, against Otley for the newly-formed Leeds club - out of the embers of his former side St John’s.

Three weeks later, he graced palatial Headingley for its inaugural rugby match, scoring the first-ever goal at the ground, a second half drop goal as Manningham were defeated. During the era before the great split of 1895, he played 143 times, scoring 55 tries and 25 goals for 200 points, more than any other Leeds player of the era.

A member of the side that lost in the Yorkshire Cup final in 1892 to Hunslet at Fartown, he gained five county caps in the same year while still a teenager - when the white rose were unbeaten champions - only injury preventing him playing in the England trials. That season he finished with an amazing 22 tries, his most prolific campaign, and in 1893 gained his sixth county cap.

He was one of only four Leeds players who also played in the ‘broken time’ era when it was formed in 1895 – thereby having a Foundation and Heritage number, going on to make a further 36 appearances.

In that inaugural Northern Union season, he notably scored the only try in victory at Runcorn and a further one in a record home win over Widnes.

He was tempted back in 1900, when he came out of retirement to help out in an injury crisis, by which time he was a member of the football committee, helping the side to four wins from their last five matches, scoring his last of 59 tries in victory at Hull KR, and making his final appearance the following week at Normanton in the Northern Union Cup.

A Horsforth resident, he would have played more but for his world-renowned fame in another arena, also undertaken at Headingley’s multi-sport complex, which he began in 1893. A leading cyclist, he won the Irish mile championship in 1895, taking the English title in 1897, and the quarter mile crown the following year, when he was also placed third in the World Championship in Vienna.

In 1899, in Montreal, his fame reached its zenith when he became the first Englishman to win the one-mile World title, although he actively shunned publicity due to his innate modesty.

A winner of over 1,000 races in Yorkshire, including numerous championships, he was one of the county’s most popular sporting characters.

His association with the Loiners did not end when he finished playing, enjoying a fifty-year association as coach, director, committeeman and scout – responsible for the signing a number of renowned players – and loyal fan.

A runner of repute too until he fractured his ankle playing rugby, post-retirement he also won two Hepworth cups for Leeds at cricket and was elected to the Horsforth Urban Council, by which time he was part owner of a bicycle shop in North Street.

He was remembered on his passing, aged 86 on 25 June 1959, as: “Always good for a yarn and a chat about football, a familiar face at Headingley almost to the end of his life.”

In 2024, Summersgill was inducted into the club's Hall of Fame, becoming the 29th inductee.