This is the final article in a trilogy surrounding three of my former teammates at Blackpool. 

We titled it: "The Good Die Young!"  And this certainly was the case of Alan Ball (Bally), John Craven (Mazza) and Emlyn Hughes, who was nicknamed by the Liverpool fans, Crazy Horse, for his all-action commitment to the game. 

Emlyn Hughes 

Emlyn Hughes was a lovely lad.  Always laughing and smiling.  He played the way he was - full of life, enthusiasm and effort. 

I remember when he first came to Blackpool.  He was 15 years old.  He was as rough as the old proverbial Badger's backside.

It was pre-season and Emlyn was already training and competing with the old pros.  He might have been green, but he wasn't intimidated.  Very much like Alan Ball in that respect. 

One of the club's traditions during pre-season was to have a day out at one of the golf courses that dotted the Lancashire coast.  This particular year we went to Morecambe.  The idea was to give a little light relief from the pre-season grind and begin to develop the team bonding process. 

Four of the old pros got going as one group - Ray Charnley, our centre forward, John McPhee, a midfield dynamo, Captain Jimmy Armfield of England fame and myself. 

Right behind us was the Emlyn Mob.  There were 5 apprentices, including Emlyn, and they had no idea of golf protocol.  As soon as one of them hit their tee shot they would take off after the ball without waiting for the others.  It was like a scene from Monty Python. 

Not that it was particularly disruptive to the Frantic Five - as invariably they all went off the tee in different directions, seldom to the fairways, eventually meeting again umpteen shots later at the green. 

But the funniest part was when we were coming down one fairway as they were tacking up to the other - which happened on many occasions as the course was designed on a parallel basis. 

Emlyn would shout out as we crossed, "Hi, Jim!"  Hi, Tony!"  And this went on for most of the round.  I can still see him vividly in my mind's eye right now.  "Hi, Jim!" "Hi, Tony!" 

Many years later and now with family ensconced in Vancouver, Canada, I got a telephone call.  

It was Emlyn "Hi, Tony!" 

I thought I was back on the golf course. 

I asked him where he was.  He told me he was fishing off the British Columbia coast a few hundred miles from Vancouver.  He has gone on a fishing trip organized by a good friend and near neighbor who owned his own boat and did this for a living. 

Actually, Rick was a gentleman fisher who not only owned his own boat, but his own island - prime real estate close to Vancouver. 

Rick gave Emlyn my number and his cell and we talked for a good half an hour about the old days and his television career, but we didn't get round to talk about his present circumstances.  Unfortunately, when he returned to Vancouver to fly back to England I was away doing some coaching work in the U.S. So we weren't able to get together. 

And that was it.  Emlyn passed away two years later and I never was aware until after his passing that he has been fighting brain cancer for a number of years.  Typically Emlyn never mentioned it. 

Life moves on, but also passes you by very quickly - and then there is no return.