But there will always, always, be one particular game for which he is remembered more than most. The game when he wrote his name into Wolves folklore. The game when his performance was one of iconic proportions.
The 1974 League Cup final at Wembley. Wolves, without a major trophy in 14 years, taking on a star-studded Manchester City side including the stardust of names such as Marsh, Lee, Law, Summerbee and Bell.
And in goal? Making only his 14th Wolves appearance, a lad from Bury who had been plucked from Huddersfield reserves six months earlier, who was now celebrating his 23rd birthday.
Pierce hadn’t played in any of the previous six League Cup ties that season. But an ankle injury sustained by the more experienced Phil Parkes, breaking his ankle and damaging ligaments whilst training at Wolverhampton Racecourse barely 48 hours after the second leg of the semi-final against Norwich, meant that opportunity knocked.
Wolves boss Bill McGarry was keen to try and protect Pierce from the pressure surrounding the final. So much so that he asked Parkes, even just a few weeks after sustaining his injury, to play for the reserves in the midweek before the game to give the impression that he might be fit. Parkes could barely move.
So, Pierce kept his place. And boy, how he delivered. His task was immense, and the watching world knew it, legendary commentator Brian Moore describing the challenge facing the fledgling goalkeeper as a ‘tremendous ordeal’ as the cameras panned in on him during the warm-up.
It was Kenny Hibbitt and John Richards who struck Wolves’ goals that afternoon, either side of Colin Bell’s equaliser, to bring the cup back to Wolverhampton.
But Pierce defied any doubts by putting in a performance which did more than most in securing the famous victory, with a string of fine saves, including one majestic effort in tipping Rodney Marsh’s free kick over the bar, to etch his name into Molineux history.
Boss McGarry was known as a strict disciplinarian, who rarely dished out praise, and always kept his players on their toes. But his spontaneous and emotional reaction on the final whistle, charging onto the pitch to vigorously shake Pierce’s hand, was proof – if it were needed – of the goalkeeper’s extraordinary heroics.
“He told me that I didn’t believe I had it in me,” Pierce said in an interview last year.
“Imagine your manager saying that to you.” He laughed. “It was a real shock to see him coming towards me, but also a compliment.”
Pierce sadly passed away peacefully in the early hours of Saturday morning in Bury Hospice after a short illness. He was 74. The reaction and outpouring of tributes which have followed, from both his former team-mates and Wolves supporters, offers another indication of the esteem in which he was held.
“Gary was such a popular and likeable character who fitted straightaway into the dressing room at Wolves,” recalls Richards, the legendary striker who is now a club Vice-President and Chairman of Wolves Former Players’ Association.
“He arrived initially as cover to Lofty and, like Lofty, he never drove a car, but with his broad Lancashire accent and bubbly personality, he was a great addition to the squad.”
“A wonderful character,” added FPA committee member Geoff Palmer, one of the defenders who played in front of Pierce on so many occasions, including on that memorable afternoon at Wembley.
One of the many beauties of the FPA, particularly via its resurgence in recent years, has been an increasing connectivity between all those who have worn the famous gold and black, and a regular supply of social events where everyone is able to meet up and re-live the glory days.
And so Pierce, in just over the last 12 months alone, was able to savour and enjoy several gatherings to mark the 50th anniversary of the ’74 triumph, including major events at the Grand Theatre and Bar Sports in Cannock, and in returning to Molineux for the Premier League fixture with Fulham.
Ahead of this Sunday’s final game of the season against Brentford, the capacity crowd joined together for a tribute to Pierce with a minute’s applause, his son, also Gary, joining Richards and other Wolves dignitaries pitchside.
The guest in the Museum and Billy Wright Stand corporate areas on Sunday was another of Pierce’s former team-mate Steve Daley, who had plenty of tales to tell about the instinctive talents of the mercurial goalkeeper, but also his sense of fun and mischief.
Daley recalled how, on his first day at the club, Pierce, on arrival for training, was ordered by McGarry to have his hair cut. “You’re a footballer, not a musician,” he was told.
When Daley and company returned in from training, Pierce was just back from the hairdressers. At which point McGarry demanded he go back and have it cut even shorter.
“Imagine Gary being asked what he did on his first day at Wolves,” said Daley.
“Did you meet your new team-mates? Go out and enjoy training? No, I went for a haircut…twice.”
Daley lived near Pierce in Codsall, and would often offer him a lift to Molineux on a matchday. Which the keeper always refused.
“I only learned a bit later on that he had a routine of going to the pub at 1pm, having two pints of lager, and then getting a bus to the ground,” he continued.
“It made me realised how much Gary lived on his nerves, and that he just needed those drinks to steady him down, but what a goalkeeper he was, with such great reactions. And what a great lad as well.”
Pierce, as mentioned, had arrived at Wolves for the princely sum of £40,000 having not made all that many appearances for Huddersfield, whom he had joined from non-league Mossley.
During his time at Wolves, spanning six years in total, one of his close friends was Les Green, who would later make such a sizeable contribution to the club in the sphere of Academy recruitment, spotting talents including Joleon Lescott and Danny Batth.
Green used to pop into the old Social Club at Molineux during his lunchtimes whilst working for British Telecom, and got know Pierce both there and also in playing Sunday League football for Wolverhampton Supporters Club, whom Pierce would often train and watch play.
Pierce’s older brother Ray had acted as a mentor figure back home, and Green perhaps took on some of the elements of that role during his time in Wolverhampton.
“If it was a home match and Wolves had won, we’d go out – this was the time when there were discos everywhere – but, if they had lost, we would go and find a quieter pub somewhere,” Green recalled.
“We had some great times and a lot of fun, but I used to hate watching him play because he was a mate and if things went wrong with the team, he would often get the blame.
“I think that when he first arrived Gary was almost wondering what he was doing there.
“This kid from Bury mixing with players like Derek Dougan, John Richards, Micky Bailey, Kenny Hibbitt, Frank Munro and so many more – all such top pros.
“But of course, he came as number two to Phil Parkes, and it was through circumstances that he got thrown into the first team.”
On League Cup Final day, Green was both privileged and proud to watch his good mate from the stands. And also, to see that a cap which he given to him previously to bring him luck through difficult times, worn by Pierce during the post-match celebrations.
“I think the adrenalin kept him going during that afternoon,” says Green.
“He played so well, and one save I remember in particular was when he came to the edge of the area to take the ball off Denis Law’s head.
“He’d actually had the hairdryer from Bill McGarry before the Manchester United game the week before, telling him he needed to come out for more crosses.
“For Gary to pick the flight of a long ball when missing it might have led to an open goal was the epitome of what McGarry wanted.
“The day after the final, after an event at the Town Hall, we went back to the Social Club for a pint, where Gary received a standing ovation, before returning to his home in Codsall to re-live the highlights of the game on ITV with Ray, his neighbour Graham and wife Jo.”
“He always stayed so humble with it all and never got carried away, just a lad from Bury.”
After leaving Wolves in 1979, Pierce went on to play for Barnsley, for a time alongside future Molineux boss Mick McCarthy, and Blackpool, before moving into non-league.
I was fortunate to interview him last year, around the time of the 50th anniversary, and he took the call after arriving at his local pub for a sociable early evening beer.
“Let me ask you a question,” he began with a chuckle.
“How many people get to play at Wembley on their birthday?”
There followed half an hour of Pierce magic. Lively conversation, plenty of humour, but also even more humility.
“Don’t make all this about me,” he said.
“That back four – Geoff Palmer, Frank Munro, John McAlle and Derek Parkin – they were superb.
“But my man of the match was Mick Bailey, he was unbelievable.
“I have only watched the game back a couple of times but just look at Mick’s performance…what a player.”
In one extent he may be right. But in another, to so many observers of that team, and that cup final, Pierce was just as important.
Clad in his wonderfully colourful goalkeeping jersey, a ‘Red Wall’ that City found it so difficult to breach.
‘In my book of memories, he will go down as the League Cup’s unheralded hero,’ wrote national newspaper journalist Maurice Smith. ‘Gary Pierce, Wolves’ stand-in goalkeeper who can’t even produce a Wembley programme with his name on it as evidence of his finest hour.’
An unlikely hero. But a very proud one. And rightly so.
“I shall remember this day for as long as I live,” Pierce said in a post-match interview. “I doubt whether I shall experience anything quite like it ever again.”
That Seventies teams remains so popular amongst fans, not just for their football, and indeed their successes, but also their character and personalities, their openness and approachability to supporters.
In that respect, Pierce very much fitted the bill.
“It’s very sad,” says Green, a faithful ally to Pierce through the good times and the bad.
“To me, he was a good friend, and we shared many memories together.”
