HE started his career at Manchester United, captained his country, was the first Englishman to play in Serie A and fulfilled his dream as a professional sportsman in America and across Europe for more than 15 years.

Yet former Cheshire Jets ace Delme Herriman is not a household name because he decided to follow his passion for basketball instead of following his friends down the much-travelled path of football.

Now Herriman, who retired from playing the game he loves in the summer after a season with Wrexham-based Glyndwr Nets, is about to release his autobiography called Mr Versatility.

The 37-year-old was adopted as a youngster by a family from Widnes in the 1970s and the book charts Herriman’s life from uncertain beginnings, via the United States college basketball leagues and across Europe, before returning to the UK in the twilight of his career.

Herriman’s interest in basketball developed in the final years of junior school and he was soon travelling to play for the Manchester United basketball team.

Before long, the young Herriman started to develop an obsession that would change the course of his life.

“One part of the book is about having a dream,” he said. “When I was brought up in Widnes, I had this obsession that I had to get to America because I’d seen it on TV and I knew how big basketball was in high schools and colleges.

“So I just had to get to America but I didn’t know how.

“So when I first went to high school in America, that was probably the biggest moment in my life.

“Once I’d got there, everything just rolled into place and, within a year, my biggest dream came with a scholarship for university.”

Even to people with little interest in basketball, Mr Versatility is an interesting life story of unbelievable highs to heartbreaking lows.

The book has taken Herriman 18 months to write, with the help of his sister Kirstie, who passed a masters degree in creative writing at the University of Chester last year.

It covers his time in America and his career in Europe, which began in 1996 when Herriman become the first Englishman to play in Italy’s Premier League.

After stops in Belgium, Holland, Germany, France and Austria, he returned to England in 2004 at the age of 31 and hooked up with the Jets, winning the BBL Championship in 2005.

He then played for the Manchester Magic, Leicester Riders and the Everton Tigers, winning bronze with the England team at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia.

Herriman also captained his country and was widely regarded as one of the most versatile players in the history of UK basketball – hence the title of his autobiography.

The book is priced £12.99 (plus p&p) and is available via Herriman’s website: www.delmeherriman.com