Charlie Nicklas should not be confused with Charlie Nicholas.
| Charlie Nicklas | |
| Fullname: | Charles Nicklas |
| Birth Date: | 26 April 1930 |
| Birth Place: | Sunderland, England |
| Death Place: | Sunderland, England |
| Position: | Centre forward |
| Years1: | 1950 |
| Clubs1: | Silksworth Colliery Welfare |
| Years2: | 1950–1953 |
| Clubs2: | Hull City |
| Caps2: | 6 |
| Goals2: | 1 |
| Years3: | 1953–1954 |
| Clubs3: | Darlington |
| Caps3: | 17 |
| Goals3: | 6 |
| Years4: | 1954–1955 |
| Caps4: | 13 |
| Goals4: | 4 |
Charles Nicklas (26 April 1930 – 26 July 2018) was an English footballer who played as a centre forward in the Football League for Hull City and Darlington. Before joining Hull, Nicklas played non-league football for Silksworth Colliery Welfare, and after leaving Darlington he played in the Southern League for Headington United.[1] [2]
Nicklas was born in 1930 in Sunderland, which was then in County Durham.[1] He played as a wing half before what the Sunderland Echo described as a promising career was interrupted by National Service in the Royal Air Force.[3] He began playing for Wearside League club Silksworth Colliery Welfare at the start of the 1950–51 season,[4] but soon went on trial with Football League Second Division club Hull City, and turned professional with that club in December 1950.[5]
He made his first-team debut a year later, on 27 October 1951, playing in the unaccustomed position of centre forward; although he had played a few reserve matches in that position, the Yorkshire Post doubted that "a home match against a team playing as strongly as Rotherham United are just now is the ideal occasion" for a youngster's debut.[6] Rotherham took a three-goal lead, but Hull came back to draw, and Nicklas scored their opener: he "had his faults, but dash, speed and courage were not among them. He harassed [the goalkeeper] into a goal offering and accepted it with glee".[7] He was known for his pace, having competed in professional sprint races.[3] Nicklas played five more matches for Hull, the last of which was on 22 March 1952.[8]
Nicklas stayed with the club until the end of the following season, when he moved on to Darlington of the Third Division North.[1] He scored six goals from seventeen league matches for Darlington,[1] and spent the 1954–55 season with Headington United in the Southern League, scoring four goals from fourteen matches in all competitions.[9]
Nicklas, a nephew of Sunderland and Fulham player Barney Travers,[3] died in his native Sunderland in 2018 at the age of 88.