'Soccer Star' magazine described Curtis as an "inside-forward-cum-wing-half".During his five seasons at Southampton the club narrowly missed out on promotion to Division 1 for three seasons in a row; in 1947–48 they finished in third place, a feat repeated the following season (despite having an 8-point lead with 8 games to play) whilst in 1949–50 they were to be denied promotion by 0.06 of a goal, missing out on second place to Sheffield United.