By DANNY LOCKWOOD
THERE’S half a chance I’ll have as tremendous a turn-out for my funeral as there was for the celebration of Harry Jepson’s life at Headingley last Tuesday.
True, vast majority will be there only to check that the rumours are true – after which the celebrations will mighty, as opposed to muted at Harry’s – and let me just say, I’m not quite ready to book the crem yet.
It was however a fair reflection while meandering away from the ground, that funerals constitute the all too frequent highlights of my social calendar these days. The week before it had been old Thornhill teammate, Jim Brook. Jim however was only 63, which is altogether young when compared to Harry’s magnificent innings of 96 glorious years.
The great, the good and many of Thornhill’s unwashed saw Jim off in style, while Harry’s farewell was on an altogether different scale. Literally nothing was left to chance – in the great Leeds tradition – from the moment his coffin was borne to the halfway line front of the main stand by Bill Ramsey, Lee Crooks, Brian McDermott, Shaun Wane, Jamie Peacock and Roy Dickinson, to his hearse disappearing out of the ground accompanied by a standing ovation from the thousand or so people in attendance.
They came from across the world of rugby league to pay their respects, quite literally so in the case of ex-Leeds player Tony Currie, one of many antipodean innocents abroad who found both a friendly and occasionally fatherly hand in the person of H. Jepson OBE. The many tributes were well choreographed, although Harry’s friend and publishing doyen Phil Caplan did a longer set than a Collins gig! I hope the crematorium was still open when they finally arrived.
They say the sun Shines on the righteous, which it did for Harry, while baking the celebrity guests and speakers caught in its glare at the front of the stand during what was nearly a two-hour event. I suspect that Harry would have chuckled at that.
It’s understandable that we should reflect cheerfully when someone has lived such a long, fruitful and meaningful life as Harry was blessed with. But it doesn’t take much for your mind to turn to other gifted less time and opportunity, Danny Jones, whose widow Lizzie provided touching renditions of Jerusalem and Abide With Me. I was also reminded of another Leeds great taken far too early – Roy Powell.
What those men have in common however, is that through the medium of our great game they left their own distinct legacies and will live long in so many memories. In the final analysis, that’s as much as any of us can hope for.
