Jack Simmons was only 11 when he made it to the Enfield Under-18 team.
There was no sympathy at the Simmons household when he copped a blow while batting. "Didn't you have the bat in your hands when you got it?" asked his father.
Lancastrian to the core.
The nickname came during a festival match against Yorkshire at Tewkesbury. He seldom tossed up the ball on the flat pitches used in league cricket. So, when he came on to bowl, Tony Nicholson (of Yorkshire!) used "Flat Jack".
Jack Simmons never played Tests, but was no ordinary cricketer either. He toiled hard for Lancashire in a career spanning over two decades, and had a haul of 1,033 First-Class wickets (at 27.18) to show for that. He also got 9,417 runs (at 22.52), so he could bat a bit as well.
He played some of his best cricket after turning 35. He was named Wisden Cricketer of the Year at 44, in 1985. He played First-Class cricket till he was 48. It was surprising that he did not get a call-up despite England’s many shambolic performances in the 1980s. The selectors preferred Emburey.
In his early days he was part of Lancashire's hat-trick in the Gillette Cup, between 1970 and 1972.
He also led Tasmania from 1972-73 – till they got First-Class status and became eligible for the Sheffield Shield.
He groomed several cricketers during his tenure, most significant among whom was David Boon, his "blue-eyed boy" whom he treated like "a son".
However, despite the yeoman services he rendered to both teams, it was his dietary habits that made Simmons a cult figure.
The stories were not always exaggerated, as his Lancashire teammate David Lloyd would have told you: “The stories of his eating habits are legion. They are also all true.”
Lloyd would know. On one occasion he gave Simmons a lift. Simmons asked him to halt at a fish-and-chips shop about half a kilometre from the latter's place. Simmons got the parcel and sat on a wall outside and started eating.
Surely he could have gone home to finish off his meal — it was nearby, after all — instead of making Lloyd wait in his car? Lloyd had to ask.
"Why don’t you take them home, Jack, eat them in your own kitchen?"
“If I take these home, Jackie’ll not make me any supper!” came an alarmed response. Simmons knew his wife.
Vic Marks wrote that Simmons was "less concerned about the efficacy of his arm ball than the whereabouts of the best fish 'n' chips in town."
When he was forced to go on one of those arduous runs as part of pre-season training, Simmons once got on to a lorry.
He once had two massive apple pies and justified it by announcing that he was on a fruit diet.
He used to book restaurant for lunch on match days. He left the moment the last ball of the first session was bowled and returned on time.
Well, almost on time. The ground at Trafalgar Road, Southport served their famous gooseberry-and-cherry pies for lunch. Unfortunately, Unfortunately, Simmons had just started on one of these when the bell rang.
Leaving a pie to take field was out of the question, so Lancashire fielded with ten men for an over.
Simmons was aware of the jokes. When Dickie Bird stayed nearby when they lived in South Africa, Bird as coach, Simmons as professional cricketer. Bird would come over for lunch unannounced. Simmons was probably not happy. "I'd split it with him – which isn't something I do regularly," he grumbled.
But Simmons' most famous story involves Clayton Street Chippy, a fish-and-chips shop at Great Harwood. On a night out, Simmons could not decide between meat pudding and fish. So he did the obvious thing: he ordered both — along with chips and mushy peas.
Clayton Street Chippy now has a signature dish that consists of a whole fish on top of steak pudding, chips, peas, and gravy.
Yes, they have named it the Simmo Special.
Flat Jack Simmons was born March 28, 1941.