Jack Whent was born in Darlington in 1920 and emigrated to Canada at a young age. He also lived in California playing football for Olympic Club and San Francisco Rovers, before returning to Vancouver where he played for St Saviour’s.
He served in the Canadian Army during the Second World War, played football as a guest for Tottenham Hotspur, and when he was posted to the Brighton area, signed amateur forms with Brighton & Hove Albion and represented the Seagulls in the 1945-46 FA Cup.
When the war was over, he returned to Canada where he was a member of the 1946–47 Pacific Coast League winning Vancouver St Andrew’s team who in 1987 which were inducted into the British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame.
Jack was tempted back to Brighton in 1947, and signed for the club on professional terms. He played regularly, mainly at centre half, and also captained the team as he went on to make 101 appearances in the Football League Third Division South.
He moved on to Second Division club Luton Town ahead of the 1950–51 season but played little. After two seasons with Kettering Town in the Southern League he returned to Canada where he won his first Challenge Trophy in 1953 with the Westminster Royals. In 1950, Jack was on a 16-man shortlist in a 1950 Canadian Press poll to select the best players of the previous 50 years, In the fall of 1953, he helped the Royals captured the 1953 Canadian Championship.
By 1958, Jack was back in San Francisco in playing for an all-star team against a touring Manchester City.