Bill Curry had that rare gift of hovering in the air.

He seemed to do so while making up his mind whether to direct the ball either into the back of the net or to the feet of a better placed colleague to score.

This ability he shared with the great headers of the game although the nearest Curry came to international level was one appearance for England under-23s while a Newcastle player.

But 40-odd years ago the competition for England places was much greater than today. His arrival at the Goldstone in the summer of 1959 was the biggest transfer deal in Albion's history.

Billy Lane committed his directors to a £15,000 fee as part of the preparations for the second season in Division Two. It was a bold move as ground improvements had increased Albion's borrowing with the bank.

However, there was never any doubt that investing in the 24-year-old Curry from Newcastle was a copper-bottomed move as Bill's star was in the ascendant.

At St James's Park his path to a regular first team place was blocked by the great Jackie Milburn. Nevertheless, Curry scored 34 goals in 80 League games and had the distinction of scoring in the first Football League match under floodlights when Newcastle won 2-0 at Fratton.

By this time Curry had represented the Army and played for England in the under-23 match against Romania.

When Newcastle let him go it was something of a surprise but those were the days of 30-plus playing staffs and north-eastern clubs had only to whistle at the top of a pit shaft and a centre-forward would pop up.

Ask any Albion fan today who saw Curry what they remember best about him, and they will confirm that not only was his aerial power extraordinary but his pace and bravery for a player of no more than 5ft 10in was something worth going a long way to see.

His place among Albion's post-war centre-forwards remains unquestioned alongside Peter Harburn, Kit Napier, Alex Dawson and Bobby Smith. The difference in Curry's case as compared with Dawson and Smith, was that Bill was on the up and up while the latter pair were at the end of their careers.

Adrian Thorne played alongside Curry on 48 occasions and paid this tribute: "He was, perhaps, the finest header of the ball I played with. He would position for crosses and lay the ball back and down to feet. At other times he was deadly in front of goal and could outjump any defender. Bill possessed a very rare skill indeed."

Those springheeled leaps were all about matchless timing. Bill scorned any notion of lurking in the box and poaching chances created by others. He mixed it with the toughest of the tough and could kick with the best.

Off the park he was a perfect gentleman and when Billy Lane saw him score a hat-trick at Fratton Park the previous season his eyes lit up on learning afterwards that the man he wanted had an exemplary track record on and off the pitch.

Bill and Hilda, his wife, and their sons Bill and Brian were pleased to leave the north-east and they settled in a Portslade bungalow close to Steve Burtenshaw and Bob McNicol.

In his first season Curry made an immediate impact, 26 goals including three hat-tricks. On four occasions he combined with Thorne to good effect; in the 5-4 victory at Bristol Rovers Bill got two and Adrian one; they each scored when Derby went down 2-0 at the Goldstone and then came the memorable FA Cup, fourth round, second replay with Rotherham at Highbury.

Albion eclipsed their Second Division rivals 6-0 before a 33,000 starry-eyed crowd as Curry registered a hat-trick. There was a brace for Thorne. And, in the League at Cardiff where Albion won 4-1, two goals from Curry and one by Thorne emphasised Albion's superiority.

Early into the 1960-61 campaign the act showed no sign of slackening. When Bristol Rovers reeled under a 6-1 hiding there were four goals for Thorne and one by Curry. The headline writers had long since exhausted the play on words with Curry being hot stuff.

There were no visible clouds on the horizon in the opening two months of the 1960-61 season but far, far more goes on in a club than ever gets out.

Suddenly, Curry asked for a move. There were no public explanations although Lane was at pains to say that, in Curry moving to Derby County for £12,000 the club had not lost money although the in-and-out sums failed to support that statement.

Towards the end of the season, again at his own request, Thorne went to Plymouth. New faces Bobby Laverick and Tony Nicholas never really fitted in yet, reputedly, it cost Albion £15,000 to get Laverick from Everton.

Curry's departure was a heavy blow for Albion's fortunes sagged, and a month later they were next to bottom and only by dint of a desperate finish, did they manage to end up 16th.

A pall gathered over Lane's head. Grumpy chairman Alec Whitcher reprimanded him for smiling with the visiting manager after a home defeat. The bounce had gone out of Billy and he couldn't get on with grousing Whitcher. Billy had been like a son to Major Carlo Campbell, the previous chairman, and never got over his death.

So far as Curry was concerned, Albion's loss was very much Derby's gain. Bill romped to 67 goals in 148 games during his four years at the Baseball Ground and then stepped down to Mansfield. There his reputation was further enhanced; 15 goals in the first 16 games (two hat tricks and a four-goal haul) admittedly in a lower division.

From Field Mill and three profitable seasons Bill joined Chesterfield and not long after went non-League to Boston and Worksop.

Soon it was time for Curry to go into management and he led Boston twice to the Northern Premiership title plus two wins in the League Cup. In 1976 he managed Sutton Town and stayed for ten years.

But, aged 54, Bill lost a short battle against cancer and died in Mansfield in 1990.

His record of 184 goals in a career 394 games with five League clubs speaks for itself.