Purdon was born in
Johannesburg,
South Africa. He came to England on tour with his South African club in 1950 at the age of 20, was watched by representatives of several clubs, and signed for
Birmingham City. During his three seasons at the club he scored 30 goals in 70 games in all competitions and was the club's top scorer in
1953–54, despite playing only 23 games before his mid-season transfer to Sunderland. He was also a good
cricketer, and was named once as
twelfth man for
Warwickshire. He moved to
Sunderland, then known as the "
Bank of England club" because of their high transfer spending, for a fee of
£15,000. Purdon made a spectacular start to his Sunderland career, scoring twice on debut against
Cardiff City and following that up with a
hat-trick (association football) against
Arsenal at
Highbury in his second game. The first goal of the three, scored after only ten seconds, was believed to be the fastest goal in Sunderland's history. Playing alongside the likes of
Len Shackleton and
Billy Bingham, he scored 42 goals in 96 games for the club over a three-year career. Purdon was a big man whose "physique allied to a total lack of fear made him a handful for any centre-half"; He and his team-mates were punished by
the Football Association for receiving illegal payments from the club. In company with fellow supporters he had just watched on television Sunderland beating
Burnley in the game which almost clinched the club's 2007 promotion to the
Premier League when he suffered a
stroke. He died in a
Toronto hospital two days later at the age of 77. ==Honours==