Don was a paratrooper in the World War II and was twice wounded and later captured at the Battle of Arnhem.  After the war he joined Birmingham City and played 64 times, scoring 6 goals, mainly from wing half and was at St Andrews with other ex City players Neil Dougall, Alex McIntosh and Don Dearson not to mention stars of their day Gil Merrick and Johnny Berry.
He signed for City as part of the deal which took Tommy Briggs to St Andrews in September 1951 and made his debut in a 1-1 home draw with Sheffield United.  That season was a miserable one and City were relegated from Division Two.  Don was a regular choice at inside forward for three seasons, became a more prolific scorer at Highfield Road and his courage and never say die attitude was always evident on the football pitch.
In 1952-53 season he scored 17 goals including hat-tricks in successive games against Crystal Palace and Torquay.  At the start of 1954 -55 season he lost his place to Tommy Capel and joined Walsall in the October but not before a final flourish when he scored two goals on his one and only appearance of the season in a 3-0 win over Shrewsbury.  He played on at Fellows Park for three seasons scoring 33 goals in 115 games before returning to St Andrews as a scout, later becoming chief scout of the network that discovered Trevor Francis, Kenny Burns and Tony Coton amongst many others.  He was axed in Ron Saunders purge in 1983 and became chief scout at Villa Park before retiring in 1985.

Hat tricks (2)
1952-53
29 November 1952 v Crystal Palace H, Division Three South
13 December 1952 v Torquay United H, Division Three South

Own goals (1)
1951-52
26 April 1952 v Leeds United A, Division Two