I recently watched a documentary called ‘One Life: Munich Air Disaster’ about the 1958 plane crash that killed many United players. The British European Airways flight crashed just after take-off from Munich Airport.

During the documentary, I heard that it was an Irish man who somehow found the courage to climb back into the burning wreckage of the plane to rescue a baby and young woman before pulling Bobby Charlton and Dennis Viollet out of what was left of the aircraft and dragging them about 20 yards through the snow to safety. He had also saved the life of Vera Luki, a Yugoslav diplomat’s wife, and her baby daughter Venona, as well as Sir Matt Busby and Jackie Blanchflower.
To this day, Harry Gregg does not like to be known as the hero of Munich but it has to be said he certainly was.

Twenty-three people died in the crash, including eight players from the Manchester United soccer team, which had just qualified for the semi-finals of the European Cup. The Manchester United team at the time was led by Coach Matt Busby and his young players were known as the ‘Busby Babes’.

Young Harry Gregg had started his career with the Windsor Park Swifts, the reserve team of Linfield, before signing for his local club Coleraine. And at the age of 18 he had earned a move across the Irish Sea to Doncaster Rovers, before transferring to Manchester United in December 1957.

Gregg was capped for Northern Ireland 25 times. He was voted best goalkeeper of the tournament at the 1958 World Cup in Sweden ahead of renowned Russian keeper Lev Yashin. At the time of his transfer to Manchester United, he was the most expensive goalkeeper in the world.

Gregg is rated by many as one of the best goalkeepers Manchester United ever had, yet he achieved no medals to justify this claim, which was made all the more frustrating for him by the fact that he played for the club during one of their most successful periods.

He was ruled out of the 1963 FA Cup victory due to a serious shoulder injury, and a succession of injuries meant that he could not play enough games to qualify for a league championship medal in the 1964-65 and 1966-67 title-winning campaigns.

He was transferred to Stoke City in the summer of 1967 then left Stoke City to manage Shrewsbury Town. Then he went on to become manager of Swansea City, resigning in February 1975 to join Crewe Alexandra, where he remained until 1978.

He then had a spell with Manchester United again at the invitation of Dave Sexton as goalkeeping coach, where he stayed until Sexton left. For some years after this he owned a hotel (fittingly called The Windsor Hotel) in the town of Portstewart on the north Derry coast.

The documentary ‘One Life’ was made to mark the 50th anniversary of the Munich Air disaster and in it, Gregg returned to the scene of the crash for the first time. On 1 July 2008, he was made an Honorary Graduate of the University of Ulster and awarded the degree of Doctor of the University in recognition of his contribution to football, at their Summer Graduation Ceremony.

Above: Harry Gregg after being awarded his honorary degree from the University of Ulster on 1 July 2008.
Right: Manchester United goalkeeper Gregg saves a shot from a Sheffield Wednesday attack during the FA Cup Fifth Round match at Old Trafford on 19 February 1958.
Bottom: The wreckage of the Manchester United Elizabethan airliner which crashed at Munich Airport on 6 February 1958.