As a player Catterick played for Everton and Crewe Alexandra, in a career that was interrupted by World War II.
Catterick Jr played at amateur level for Stockport Schoolboys and for Cheadle Heath Nomads before signing part-time for Everton as an 18-year-old in 1937.
He led to team to the Second Division title in 1959 and reached the FA Cup semi-final the following season, losing to Blackburn Rovers.
The struggle by a previously great team seriously affected Catterick's health, and he suffered a severe heart attack on 5 January 1972 near Sheffield after watching the League Cup semi-final between West Ham United and Stoke City.
He spent 14 days in hospital in Sheffield, being discharged on 19 January, and returned later that season, but later said that he felt it took him twelve months to fully recover.
In the Summer of 1977 Catterick wrote to the FA inquiring about the England managerial vacancy but never received a reply.
Catterick died of a heart attack shortly after watching Everton draw 2–2 with Ipswich Town in an FA Cup Sixth Round match at Goodison Park on 9 March 1985.
His death came almost exactly five years after former Everton striker Dixie Dean had died while watching a game at the ground, also of a heart attack.
Catterick was portrayed by Colin Welland in the 1997 TV film The Fix, which featured the events of the 1964 football betting scandal.