Jack Humphreys’ nine-year long Goodison career was limited to just 61 full appearances, a tally that would surely have been far greater had it not been for the intervention of the Second World War. 

The war was a conflict in which Humphreys fought as a bombardier over France, combining it with occasional appearances for Everton.  The son of a schoolmaster and who had studied at the renowned Loughborough College, he was spotted as an amateur in the summer of 1942 and signed professional terms with Everton the following April. 

The centre back established a place for himself in Everton team in the Football League North during the second part of the 1945/46 season. When the Football League restarted in August 1946 T. G. Jones took his place, but his countryman’s disputes with the Everton management over subsequent years gave Humphreys playing time.  A powerful defender, he, like many of his colleagues, suffered by comparison to the great pre-war League Championship winning team as Everton struggled to make an impression in the post war years.

Appearances by the end of the 1940s had become harder to come by for Humphreys, so it was with some surprise that the club rejected a £12,000 bid for his services from Plymouth Argyle in October 1949. As T. G. Jones’ dispute with Everton became martial over the following year, it was Humphreys’ misfortune that he was suffering from injury, and Ted Falder instead stepped up to the mantle.  Having made just a solitary appearance in the fateful relegation season of 1950/51 the club released him and he joined Llandudno Town.

Humphreys died suddenly in September 1954, a month short of his thirty-fourth birthday. On being informed of his tragic demise the club paid a £50 grant to his widow and recommended that the Football League did likewise from its Jubilee Fund. His son Gerry played for Everton during the 1960s.