After school, Sam Bartram became a miner and played as either centre-forward or wing-half in non-league football in the North-East of England.

He played in goal for the Addicks for 22 years, ignoring unofficial guest appearances elsewhere during wartime, and was never dropped from the team until he retired in 1956.

During the semi-final against Newcastle United at Elland Road on 29 March 1947, Bartram was suffering from food poisoning, so played with a hot poultice on his stomach.

[13] Bartram was involved in a well reported incident on 25 December 1937 when thick fog closed in on a game he was playing against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge: "Soon after the kick-off," he wrote in his autobiography, "[fog] began to thicken rapidly at the far end, travelling past Vic Woodley in the Chelsea goal and rolling steadily towards me.

The game went unusually silent but Sam remained at his post, peering into the thickening fog from the edge of the penalty area.

"[14] In 1976 and 1977 an estate was built at the Jimmy Seed end of the ground consisting of a block of flats and seven houses, named Sam Bartram Close.

In 2006, a nine-foot statue of Sam Bartram was erected outside Charlton's stadium, The Valley, to celebrate the club's centenary.