Following the recent death of Reg Jenkins, South West Football looks back at his career, which saw him appear for all three of Devon's professional sides.
Reg Jenkins was one of a select band of players to have appeared for Plymouth Argyle, Exeter City and Torquay United during his career.
However, he would achieve greater acclaim when he headed north to join Rochdale who he helped to win their first ever promotion, from the Fourth Division, in the 1968-69 season.
After starting his career with Truro City, Reg joined Plymouth in October 1957 and made his debut for the Pilgrims on February 28th 1959 against Swindon Town. He was a member of the Argyle team which won promotion from the ‘old’ Third Division in the 1958-59 season. Reg found first team football harder to come by in the ‘old’ Division Two and joined Exeter City in 1960.
After making 20 appearances for the Grecians and scoring six goals he was snapped by Eric Webber on the eve of the 1961-62 season. Reg would end the campaign as the Gulls joint third highest goal scorer.
However, the season finished in disappointing fashion for Torquay as they were relegated back to Division Four following a final day defeat at the hands of Barnsley.
In Reg’s last season at Plainmoor, the 1962-63 campaign, the Gulls fell short of making an immediate return to the Third Division. They missed out on promotion by one point as they were forced to settle for a sixth place finish in the table.
The following summer saw Reg make the move to East Lancashire to sign for Rochdale after Dale manager and former Gulls winger Tony Collins paid the Gulls £3,000 for his services. His move to Spotland saw Reg play some of the best football of his career as he finished his first season at the club with 25 goals to his name.
During the 1968-69 campaign, he played a key role in helping Dale clinch their first promotion success. Reg bagged a brace in their 3-0 win on the final day of the season against Southend United, which secured their elevation to the ‘old’ Division Three.
By the time he had hung up his boots, Reg had made 305 League appearances for Rochdale and scored 119 goals.
His goal scoring tally remains a club record to this day.
Over 30 years later readers of the Rochdale Observer voted him as the greatest player ever to represent the club.
An abridged version of this article appeared in the Torquay United vs Rochdale programme on April 10th 2010.
