Don Kitchenbrand Obituary – "The Rhino", a Sunderland powerhouse of the 1950s
03/19/2025 02:00 AM
Roker Report were saddened to learn of the death of the popular forward Don Kitchenbrand, who has sadly passed away aged 91.
It was announced on Sunday that former Sunderland striker Don Kitchenbrand has passed away this month, aged 91. A Scottish League winner with Rangers, the forward's powerful style of play saw him nicknamed 'The Rhino', and during a two-year spell on Wearside he proved himself to be well capable of finding the back of the net.
Born in South Africa in 1933, he moved to Scotland in 1955 having been scouted by Glasgow born Charlie Watkins and asking the former Luton Town man to keep his Catholic faith a secret. He was an immediate hit at Ibrox though, helping his new team to the 1955-56 title with 24 goals that season, but once out of the side due to injury he switched to Sunderland in 1958, joining towards the end of the campaign and being expected to hit the ground running.
Kitchenbrand was moving to a club that was spending cash in a desperate attempt to avoid a first ever relegation. Arriving shortly after Reg Pearce and George Whitelaw he opened his account with a debut goal as The Lads ended a four-game losing streak with a draw against Sheffield Wednesday, and whilst the side were unable to avoid the drop it was not for a lack of trying on his part – Kitchenbrand getting a total of six goals in his first ten outings.
Many fans felt that had he arrived a little earlier Sunderland's survival bid would have proven to be successful, and once in Division Two he continued in a similar vein. The fist clue that he was going to be the one spearheading the team during a new era was when a practise match between the seniors and the reserves took place at Roker Park on Wednesday the 13th of August 1958 – with fans allowed in to watch, the bustling South African scored a hattrick. He followed that up with the club's first ever trio in the second tier as Rotherham United were beaten 4-0 in November, and alongside Johnny Goodchild, who got a hattrick of his own the following week at home to Sheffield United, they formed the main threats going forward.
The side were well short of the level required however, although Kitchenbrand's own stats remained impressive. He was top scorer with 21 goals, earning himself another match ball on the final day of the campaign as things were rounded off with a morale boosting win over Brighton & Hove Albion, but the weeks that followed were to have a massive impact on not only his career, but his whole life. When previously meeting some old teammates in Dublin he had fallen in love with the daughter of the person running the hotel he was booked into, and they were making plans to marry in June, so in May it was being reported that he was the only one of the 43 professionals on the books not to have signed a new deal yet.
His desire was to drop to a part-time contract and move to Ireland, from where he would fly over for weekend fixtures, whilst helping his new family run their business during the week. Keen not to lose such a talented and important member of the side, manager Alan Brown went along with the proposal at first – Sunderland picking up the tab for his plane fares even – but once Ian Lawther broke into the first team the situation changed drastically. Never selected for the first team again, by October Kitchenbrand was turning out in the Northern Regional League, and throughout the rest of 1959-60 he was being linked with transfers to the League of Ireland.
At one point it appeared as if he might join Drumcondra as part of an exchange deal involving goalkeeper Maurice Swan and in May following the end of another season, he was formally placed on the transfer list along with 17 other professionals. His departure however was to see him go back to his homeland, where he featured for Johannesburg Ramblers, before he and his wife made several other moves. Whilst playing semi-professionally for Forfar Athletic in the early 1960s he assisted his father-in-law again, who was now running the Queen's Hotel in the town, and to further supplement his income he represented a liquor company as a travelling salesman too - although the poor health of his own father prompted another return to South Africa in 1964.
Kitchenbrand continued to work until 1979 and when he spoke to SAFC earlier this decade he and his wife were living in the country of his birth, having marked their diamond wedding anniversary in 2019: In Memory: Don Kichenbrand - Sunderland AFC. Their relationship was evidently a deeply loving one, and at times a varied one, and our thoughts are of course with his family at this time.
Meeting Miss Gourlay all those years before was what ultimately spelt the end of his Sunderland career, and it was a loss to the club clearly. In one of his final appearances for the team he played against Cardiff City in April 1959 and the Western Mail in their subsequent match report seemed to sum up his presence perfectly:
The game bristled with incident. Sparks flew whenever City centre-half Danny Malloy and Don Kitchenbrand, the Sunderland leader, clashed. But their "duel" ended with handshakes all round at the final whistle.
A fine player and a man with an interesting story, Don Kitchenbrand certainly left his mark. Rest in peace.
Donald Basil Kitchenbrand
Born: Boksburg, South Africa, 13 August 1933
SAFC debut: Sunderland 3 (scored) Sheffield Wednesday 3
Football League Division One, Roker Park, 8 March 1958
Final SAFC appearance: Sunderland 0 Brighton & Hove Albion 0
Football League Division Two, Roker Park, 29 August 1959
Total appearances/goals for SAFC: 54/28
