Ernest King was born in Brockley, London. He played non-league football in Dorset before joining West Bromwich Albion, initially as an amateur, in 1928. He turned professional the following year, and played for the club’s reserves, but not for the first team, and moved on to Brighton and Hove Albion in 1931. He was a regular in the side from 1932 to 1937, playing in either full-back position, but suffered an injury in October 1937 that forced his retirement. He went on to keep a hotel in Weymouth, and died in Dorset in 2001 at the age of 93.