Sir Jack Arnold Hayward (14 June 1923 – 13 January 2015) was an English businessman, property developer, philanthropist, and president of English football club Wolverhampton Wanderers.
At the outbreak of the Second World War, he cycled to Oxford to volunteer to fight, eventually joining the Royal Air Force (RAF). He received flight training in Yorkshire and Clewiston, Florida, in the United States.
He served first as a pilot officer in 671 Squadron operating under South East Asia Command (SEAC) in India, flying Dakota transporter aircraft for the supply of the 14th Army in Burma Campaign. In 1946 he was demobilised as a flight lieutenant. Obituary, Daily Telegraph, 13 January 2014.
In addition to his home in Freeport, in England he owned a farm in Sussex and in Scotland was Laird of Dunmaglass, a 14,000-acre estate near Inverness. The Sunday Times Rich List placed him as 125th richest in Britain with an estimated £160 million fortune in 2009.
Hayward became the owner and chairman of Wolves, then in the Second Division following back-to-back promotions, after buying the club in May 1990 for £2.11 million. It is estimated that he spent well in excess of £70m of his personal finance on redeveloping their Molineux Stadium, writing off annual debts, and purchasing players for the club during the 17 years in which he was the owner. His reign saw seven different managers employ his resources in attempts to make the club a top-flight side. In the event, they only managed one season at the highest level (2003–04), despite his riches having enabled Wolves to invest in many players who would normally have been beyond the financial reach of non-Premier League clubs. In May 2007 it was announced that he had sold control of the club to businessman Steve Morgan for a nominal £10 fee, in exchange for a conditional £30m of investment in the club. Hayward had originally offered the club for sale in September 2003, but had struggled to find suitable takers. Morgan's takeover was formally completed on 9 August 2007. Hayward remained the life president of Wolverhampton Wanderers and was later inducted into the club's Hall of Fame.
By the time he retired as chairman at Molineux Stadium, Hayward was recognised as one of a select group of football benefactors who had spent huge fortunes of time and money on rescuing their hometown boyhood club from obscurity. Other such benefactors include Jack Walker (Blackburn Rovers), Lionel Pickering (Derby County), Steve Gibson (Middlesbrough) and Dave Whelan (Wigan Athletic).
He funded three international racing yachts, Great Britain I, II and III, spent £100,000 on saving the sloop Gannet (the Royal Navy's only survivor of the transition from sail to steam) and contributed another £100,000 to help raise the Mary Rose. After befriending fellow Wulfrunian and cricketer Rachael Heyhoe Flint, he financed tours of the West Indies by the England women's cricket team in 1969–70 and 1970–71, and in 1973 sponsored the first-ever Women's Cricket World Cup, two years before the first World Cup in the men's game.
Hayward appeared in the 1970 BBC Chronicle programme; "The Great Iron Ship" which documented the recovery and subsequent voyage of the SS Great Britain from the Falklands to Bristol.
Hayward was awarded £50,000 in libel damages against the Sunday Telegraph after an article published in 1978 accused him of being the paymaster in the alleged conspiracy to murder Norman Scott in the Thorpe affair, of which Thorpe was cleared. Sir Jack Hayward, eccentric who loved his city Express & Star, 14 January 2014 In 1979, he gave Crown witness in court when Thorpe was implicated in the affair, letters from Thorpe that Hayward had kept being among the exhibits.
In a 2003 interview with Sathnam Sanghera, Hayward said of his political views, "If I had my way, I'd form my own party far more right-wing than Margaret Thatcher. I'd bring back National Service, the Scaffold, the cat o' nine tails, the British Empire like Sierra Leone and Nigeria were so much better off under British rule than they are now." Sir Jack Hayward, Sathnam Sanghera, Financial Times, 2003. When Sanghera asked him why he had thus supported the Liberal Party, he replied, "Well, I used to say, 'I don't want anything to do with Europe.' And Jeremy Thorpe used to say, 'My dear fella, if we joined Europe, with our expertise on how to run an empire, we'll be in charge of Europe! We will be the master race!' And I would say, 'How much do you want?' Also, I felt sorry for them."
With his crumpled clothes and pockets stuffed with bits of paper, it was observed of Hayward that he looked “more like an absent-minded retired geography teacher than one of the richest men in the world”. He relaxed by watching cricket — he was a life member of Surrey County Cricket Club — and taking part in amateur dramatics — he built a modern theatre at Freeport for the local Players’ Guild, of which he was a leading actor. He banned non-British vehicles from his estate in Sussex and refused to drink French wine or mineral water.
Hayward was awarded the freedom of the City of Wolverhampton on 9 July 2003.
In January 2011 Hayward was in a court battle for over £100 million of his personal fortune, after being sued by his daughter, elder son and six of his grandchildren after they had been removed as beneficiaries from trusts set up by him. The fallout between Hayward and his family started over the £10 sale of Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. to Steve Morgan.
Hayward died on 13 January 2015 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, aged 91.
The Grand Bahama Highway Bridge is to be renamed the Sir Jack Hayward Bridge. Hayward had campaigned for its building for 10 years before it was launched with a contract signing ceremony in May 2014 at which he was present. New bridge in Bahamas is to be named after Sir Jack Hayward, Wolverhampton Express and Star, 20 January 2015 The bridge was commissioned in March 2016.
The South Bank of Molineux Stadium, known as the Jack Harris Stand at the time, was renamed the Sir Jack Hayward Stand after his death. Molineux stand set to be renamed in honour of legendary Sir Jack, Birmingham Mail, 7 May 2015
|
|