This strongly built half back has a unique place in British football, as Kenneth Hunt became the only ordained minister to represent his country at full international level.
A player who was captain of the football team at Wolverhampton Grammar School, he went on to Trent College and Queens College Oxford, where he won four Blues representing the university for football between 1904 and 1907. In a strange pre-cursor to his later career, he appeared at White Hart Lane in a friendly against club club playing for the Oxford University side in November 1906.
Kenneth played in the Oxford City reserve side and Corintihians, where he was spotted by Wolverhampton Wanderers, who gave him his league debut against Burnley on 23rd March 1907.
Although continuing his studies at Oxford, he would travel on Friday afternoon by train to Wolverhampton, spend the night at his parents' home in Chapel Ash and then be available to play for the team on Saturday afternoon.
1908 was a big year for Hunt, as he opened the scoring in the FA Cup final that year beating Newcastle United 3-1, played for Wolves in Tottenham's first ever league game at White Hart Lane and won a gold medal at football for Great Britain in the London Olympics, playing in the England amateur team, who represented the GB. All this was achieved while making a move to Highgate school to take up a new position, as he continued to earn his living away from the game.
Hunt was always a terrier of a player, always keenly contesting every ball. Described "as hard as teak", he forged a reputation for fairness despite his hard-tackling and physical approach to the game. Kenneth's devotion to the Molineux club was evidenced when he turned down an invitation to play for England to allow him to play in the FA Cup Final of 1908; a game which not only enhanced the club's reputation and standing in the game, but also handed them a financial boost at a time when it looked as if they might be heading for bankruptcy around the time leading up to the First World War.
The following year saw Hunt's ordination, another appearance in one of his games for the national amateur team against Belgium, played for Oxford City and earned a move to Southern League side Leyton, where his play earned him his two full England caps in 1911 against Wales and Scotland.
Having reached a losing Amateur Cup final with Oxford City in 1912, he joined Crystal Palace and played 15 times in the Southern League for the Glaziers, while his single appearance for Tottenham came as a guest player during World War I, playing against Portsmouth at Highbury on 16th December 1916, when his performance at centre-half helped keep a clean sheet in a 1-0 score-line when the game was called off after 40 minutes when fog descended. The score in the London Combination game was allowed to stand though.
February 1917 saw him back at Selhurst Park and he played against Spurs twice that month. At Christmas 1918, he played twice for a team called Eccleshall Comrades, alongside the local vicar, who was his father.
In season 1919-20, the Rev. Hunt played one game each for Crystal Palace and Wolverhampton Wanderers, his last games in the senior game, but he continued to play for Corinthians until 1923. In 1920, he represented the GB at the Antwerp Olympics, but the side were knocked out in the First Round this time.
Hunt was the Second Master at Highgate School between 1929 and 1945. Such was his standing at the school that when he became house master of Grindal House, the house colours were changed to gold and black in honour of his time at Molineux and remain the same to this day. Still keen to maintain his links with Wolves, he turned out in a practice match at the club during World War II when he was in his Fifties. After retirement, he took up a role at the FA Council the following year, although he retired through ill health in 1949, and also the role of the founding President of Pegasus FC, a club formed of students from Oxford and Cambridge universities.
Reverend Kenneth Hunt died on 28th April 1949 in Heathfield, East Sussex, England. His death came two days after Wolves had won the 1949 FA Cup.