.jpg) Quinn in action for Celtic, 1912 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (1878-07-08)8 July 1878 | ||
| Place of birth | Croy, Scotland[1] | ||
| Date of death | 21 November 1945(1945-11-21) (aged 67)[1] | ||
| Place of death | Croy, Scotland[1] | ||
| Height | 1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)[2] | ||
| Position | Centre forward | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| Smithston Albion | |||
| 1900–1915 | Celtic | 272 | (188) |
| International career | |||
| 1904–1912 | Scottish League XI | 8 | (8) |
| 1905–1912 | Scotland | 11 | (7) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
James Quinn (8 July 1878 – 21 November 1945) was a Scottishfootballer who played forCeltic for 15 years, becoming one of the club's leading goalscorers of all time. He also representedScotland.
A native of the village ofCroy, North Lanarkshire and signed for Celtic aged 22 byWillie Maley from junior clubSmithston Albion in 1900,[1] Quinn took several seasons to make his mark, playing at outside-left then inside-left before being moved tocentre. Like so many players of the time and since, he was acoal miner.[1]
A man who was strong and powerful in stature but shy and unassuming in character,[1] the foundations of Quinn's enduring fame were laid with a hat-trick in the 1902British League Cup final againstOld Firm rivalsRangers,[3][4] and cemented in the1904 Scottish Cup Final against the same opposition. At half-time Rangers led by two goals to nil. In the second half, however, Celtic came back to win 3–2, Quinn scoring all the goals.[5][6] This was the secondhat-trick in aScottish Cup Final; it was 68 years before the feat was repeated byDixie Deans in Celtic's 6–1 defeat ofHibs in1972.[5]That cup final hat-trick was the first a Celtic player scored against Rangers in a major competition, and Quinn also scored the second, in a 3–0 league victory onNew Year's Day 1912. He was the only player from either side to have twice scored a hat-trick in anOld Firm match untilAlly McCoist emulated him in the 1980s.[a]
Quinn won six successivechampionship and fiveScottish Cup medals with Celtic[1][9] as the focal point of a forward line which became well known across the country:Bennett,McMenemy, Quinn,Somers andHamilton. He scored 218 goals in 331 appearances in the two major competitions – 188 in the League (273 appearances including a playoff in 1905) and 30 in the Scottish Cup from 58 appearances, eight of them in finals (1904,[10] 1908, 1909,[11] and 1911),[12] plus dozens more in various minor tournaments.[9][b]
His strike rate of 0.65 – almost two goals every three games – is surpassed among Celtic goalscorers only byJimmy McGrory,Henrik Larsson andSandy McMahon. As a scorer of league goals, his total of 187 is behind McGrory alone. Quinn was the first Celtic player to score 200 goals for the club, and only four others have done so—McGrory,Bobby Lennox (273), Larsson (242), andStevie Chalmers (228). Ninety years after his retirement, he remains the club's fifth highest goalscorer.
He received a benefit match in 1926, in which Celtic played against a Scottish League team, ending in a 3–3 draw.[14]
Hisgrandson of the same name also played for Celtic.[15]
Quinn scored seven goals in 11 appearances forScotland including four out of five goals againstIreland in 1908, and eight in as many games for theScottish League XI.[16]
