THE last surviving member of the last Warrington Wolves team to be crowned champions has died, aged 87.

Syd Phillips partnered Harry Bath in the second row when The Wire beat Oldham 5-3 in the Championship Final at muddy Maine Road, Manchester, on May 14, 1955.

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It was his 17th game of that glorious campaign and was one of the two try scorers in the play-off semi-final win against Halifax to keep his side on track to retain the title.

In the iconic picture of a muddied Wire team celebrating their success on the Maine Road pitch, Phillips is seen holding aloft skipper Ally Naughton with the silverware.

Widnes-born Philips, the son of one of rugby league's top referees of the time, George Phillips, went on to complete 95 games for Warrington.

In his fifth season, he played four games on loan at St Helens and then transferred to Keighley, where he made 161 appearances in seven campaigns and went on to become one of their club legends.

He was a postman in the Yorkshire town long after his playing days ended.

Phillips made his debut in a 27-2 defeat at Oldham on October 25, 1952, and played his final game in primrose and blue four years later as a prop forward in an 8-5 loss at Blackpool Borough.

Injury cost Phillips other appearances in finals in that greatest period of Wire's history.

A broken collar bone meant he was not available for the 1954 Challenge Cup Final at Wembley, nor the replay in front of a world record crowd at Odsal Stadium, Bradford, nor the Championship Final of the same year at Maine Road, Manchester, both against Halifax.

Warrington Guardian has learned that Syd, who leaves a daughter, Sandra, a son-in-law David, and two grandchildren, died in February.