James Harris was born on the 18th of August 1933 and raised on Temple Road, Birkenhead, in sight of Prenton Park where he would perform match-day ball-boy duties. He attended the school across the road from his home and excelled at various sports playing as left half in football. As captain of Birkenhead Schoolboys, he then played for Cheshire County Schoolboys and as he got an improved shot and got faster, he was moved to inside-right and would play for Birkenhead Boys in the morning at left-half and then for Bebington Hawks in the afternoon at inside-right. His aunt Elsie put in a word about her 15-year-old nephew with an Everton director and he was offered a trial across the water. It was the start of an enduring association with the Toffees. His early years at Goodison saw him training whilst also serving an apprenticeship at a printers on the Wirral (at his father's insistence). On returning from national service after 2 years away from the club, he forced his way into the reckoning of manager Cliff Britton, displacing crowd favourite Dave Hickson as the wearer of the famous number nine shirt in 1955. As a clever, pacy forward he would have thrived today playing on billiard table pitches and he netted 21 times in his debut season as a first teamer but went on to suffer hamstring issues, the bane of explosive sprinters. He won England Under-23 honours, lining up alongside Duncan Edwards, who he rated highly. He also was a huge admirer of Bobby Collins once the Scot joined the Blues in 1958. With the return of Dave Hickson to Everton, Jimmy was converted to a right winger and in the 1957-58 season he scored a hat-trick away at Tottenham Hotspur only for Everton to lose 10–4, before he reclaimed a central striker position at the turn of the decade, just as Everton began to splash to cash.
He didn't always see eye to eye with manager Johnny Carey and was transferred to Birmingham City in December 1960, where he was assured of the centre-forward positiion, having scored 72 goals in 207 appearances in all competitions for Everton. He would regret not staying as he would have relished playing under Harry Catterick, with Carey departing Everton less than four months after Jimmy left. However he enjoyed four happy years in the Midlands, particularly his exploits in League Cup (a winner in 1963) and the 1960/61 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, in which the Blues overcame Inter Milan but lost to Roma in the final. Later he played for Oldham Athletic and Tranmere before signing for Cheshire League club Rhyl in September 1966. With an injury delaying his debut, he went over to Ireland for a few months with St Patrick's Athletic and made his debut in a League of Ireland Shield game against Shamrock Rovers. In his second Shield game he got his first goal for Pat's which sealed the club's participation in the following season's Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. However by Christmas St Pat's had run out of money and so he returned home and got a job as a scheduler at Vauxhall Motors. He was also player manager of Ellesmere Port in the Cheshire County League for a year and coached the youth at Tranmere on a part-time basis with Johnny King who he had played with at Everton. Settling down he married Joan Boardman, a former Miss England from Wallasey, and they had two sons together, Jamie and Ian.
Thursday the 26th of May 2022 was the day of Jimmy Harris's final farewell. In the mid-afternoon, the cortège transported the 88-year-old former Toffees striker slowly along Goodison Road past the stadium he had graced. The funeral took place at Landican Crematorium and it was standing room only in the chapel, with family, friends and football supporters in attendance. Everton FC, Jimmy’s beloved club, was represented by Ian Snodin, Graham Stuart and Darren Griffiths. Members of Everton FC Heritage Society were also present. It came as little surprise that the 'Z-Cars' theme had been chosen as the entry music. That great football hymn, Abide with Me, was sung during the service, and Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond, one of Jimmy’s favourite artists, was played as people left after the service.
see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2026/08/merseyside-for-sport-stan-brittain.html
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