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Community hero dies after row with youth

by Damon Wilkinson
5/ 8/2008

A RETIRED coach driver who set up a football team for disadvantaged children in Wardle collapsed and died of a heart attack after allegedly being verbally abused by a teenager.

Frank Humphreys, aged 63, had gone to help an elderly neighbour who the teenager was arguing with. According to a witness, the teenager swore at him before the boy’s older brother arrived and intervened.

But as Mr Humphreys, who launched Wardle Allstars, for 13 to 19-year-olds on the Birch View estate, turned to walk back into his flat in Baguley Crescent, Middleton, he collapsed on a stairwell and slumped to the ground. He died later in hospital.

His long-term partner Lorna Lyons, aged 55, from Wardle, paid tribute to ‘the nicest man you could hope to meet’.

She said: "Basically, he was trying to stand up for the area where he had lived for more than 20 years. It must have been the stress from the incident that caused it. Frank would help anyone. That was his nature. He would always stick up for people – especially those who needed help."

Frank, a Manchester City fan, only retired from work a week before his death.

Last year he was nominated in the Volunteer of the Year category of the Rochdale Borough Community Sports Awards. Rob Johnson, football development officer at Rochdale Federation of Tenant and Resident Associations, helped him gain funding for the club.

He said: "There aren’t enough people like Frank in the world. Without volunteers like him a lot of things wouldn’t exist. He gave up his time to help these lads, who otherwise might have been causing trouble or making a nuisance of themselves. He was a lovely guy who was well-respected by the lads he worked with and he will be sorely missed."

Lorna, who was on holiday at the time of his death, added: "The whole idea of starting the football team was to help children. I have known him since I was 19 and he could not have been a better person. He loved helping other people out. He was a genuine man and there are not enough of those today."

Neighbours told how they saw the argument then Frank slump to the ground.

One said: "There was a row and the boy was swearing at him, then he just keeled over. He collapsed on the stairs back up to the door of his flat."

A police spokesman said: "A post-mortem found that the man died from heart failure. There are not believed to be suspicious circumstances and the case has been passed to the coroner."

A boy of 13 and a 21-year-old man were arrested and released without charge after the death was confirmed as natural causes.