Denis Pring: An appreciation
Club historian David Bull remembers former Southampton player Denis Pring, who has passed away.
Denis Pring, who has died aged 82, would tell interviewers that his forename had but one “n”, as his family “couldn’t afford two”.
Renowned for such self-deprecating humour, Denis needed plenty of it to laugh off the way ligament damage halted his Saints career after only four first-team appearances in the spring of 1959.
He was still only 20 when he left The Dell for 10 seasons at Poole, followed by spells under two ex-Saints in turn: Cliff Huxford at Basingstoke and Pat Parker at Cowes.
A sporting all-rounder who’d played football, cricket and rugby in his youth, Denis’s regular retirement sport was golf at Wellow Golf Club.
