HEP TINDALE

George Hepple Holt Tindale, always known as Hep, was a County Durham native. He enjoyed a long and productive career with his local Wasps from the 1960s to the 1980s, playing defence and centre, and in later seasons was their player‑coach.

A prolific scorer, Hep was in the top-10 of the Northern League points table five times – in 1968-69, 1969-70, 1973-74 (fifth), 1976-77 (second with 50 points from 13 games) and 1980‑81 when he tallied 56 points from 22 games, with Wasps’ Canadian imports taking the first three spots. He was also among the leading scorers in the Autumn Cup in 1975‑76, 1976-77 and 1978-79.

After topping his club with a princely 49 points in 21 games in 1964-65, he was selected 18 times for Great Britain on three World Championship sides – Pool B in 1965 and 1966 and Pool C in 1971.

Born in October 1937, Tindale learned to skate in the Durham rink at the age of 10, working his way up through the junior system from the Mosquitoes to the Hornets and joining the senior Wasps at 15. He was on the side that twice won the prestigious Northern Tournament, in 1957 and again the next year.

His achievements were recognised with a place on the All-Star B team in 1967-68, 1969‑70 and 1976-77. He retired as a player in 1983 but only after captaining Durham in the first Heineken-sponsored British Championship final at Streatham, at the age of 45.

Hep Tindale is pictured above (on the left) with Peter Jonker Johnson – a fellow Durham Wasp and member of the Hall – who made the Hall of Fame presentation on 30th April 2019.