Dennis Sydney Viollet was an English footballer who played for Manchester United and Stoke City as well as the England national team.
18 Facts About Dennis Viollet
2.
Dennis Viollet was famous as one of the Busby Babes and survived the Munich air disaster.
3.
Dennis Viollet came through the junior ranks at United and turned professional in 1950.
4.
In February 1958, Viollet was flying back from a European Cup match in Belgrade via Munich; attempting to take off in bad weather, the plane crashed, killing 21 people, including seven Manchester United players, in what would become known as the Munich air disaster.
5.
Dennis Viollet survived, suffering only injuries to his head and face, and he returned to action before the end of the season, less than three months later.
6.
Dennis Viollet joined a team being re-built by Tony Waddington, containing experienced players such as Stanley Matthews, and Jackie Mudie and emerging talent such as John Ritchie and Eric Skeels.
7.
Dennis Viollet continued to play for Stoke until the summer of 1967 when he announced his retirement after scoring 66 goals in 207 matches for the "Potters".
8.
In 1974, Dennis Viollet became the first Head Coach for the Washington Diplomats of the NASL.
9.
In 1978, Dennis Viollet was selected by his former United teammate, head coach Noel Cantwell, to serve as assistant coach of the New England Tea Men of the North American Soccer League.
10.
Dennis Viollet coached the Jacksonville Knights, a professional indoor soccer team, in 1989.
11.
In 1990, Dennis Viollet took the reins of the Jacksonville University Dolphins, where he stayed until 1995.
12.
Dennis Viollet then took the USISL Richmond Kickers to the 1995 American Double.
13.
Dennis Viollet stayed with Richmond for 2 seasons, then served as coach of the A-League Jacksonville Cyclones before his death from cancer on 6 March 1999, aged 65, in his adopted home of Jacksonville.
14.
Dennis Viollet was born in Fallowfield, Manchester, in September 1933, the youngest of three children born to Charles Sydney Dennis Viollet.
15.
Dennis Viollet married Barbara Mavis Southern at St Edmund's Church, Manchester, in 1951, when he was 17 years old.
16.
Dennis Viollet died in March 1999 after a two-year battle against cancer, with a brain tumour first being diagnosed during 1997, despite treatment and surgery during that time to combat the illness.
17.
In 2010, Dennis Viollet was inducted into the Washington, DC Soccer Hall of Fame.
18.
Dennis Viollet was inducted into the first class of the United Soccer League Hall of Fame in 2002.