Gordon Smith (1924-2004)

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Gordon Smith (May 25, 1924 in EdinburghAugust 8, 2004 in North Berwick) was a Scottish football player.

Smith spent much of his childhood in Angus but, after showing great footballing promise playing for Montrose Roselea and Dundee North End, was to return to Edinburgh to pursue a career as a professional. It wasn't to be with his boyhood favourites Heart of Midlothian however, but their cross-town rivals Hibernian, where the "Gay Gordon" soon established himself as an idol for a whole generation of post-war football fans. Alongside Bobby Johnstone, Lawrie Reilly, Eddie Turnbull, and Willie Ormond, Smith became part of the "Famous Five", the most celebrated forward line in Hibs' history.

During the late 1940s and 1950s Smith and the Famous Five ensured Hibs were one of the most successful sides in Scotland, both sporting-wise and at the turnstyles. The League title was captured three times (1948, 1951, 1952), while 1953 saw Rangers pip Hibs only through the goal average system. Smith was less successful in cup competition however, reaching only one Scottish Cup final with Hibs, which they lost 2-1 to Aberdeen in 1947.

When a recurring ankle injury led to Hibs releasing him in 1959 most observers assumed that (the then 35 year-old) Smith's career was over. Smith thought otherwise, and after paying for an operation on the offending ankle himself, he eventually signed for Hearts. He was to enjoy immediate success at Tynecastle, winning both the League and the League Cup in his first season.

After an injury-plagued second season with Hearts, Smith was released and again the football writers prepared obituaries for the veteran's career. Again Smith was to confound contemporary wisdom, signing for Dundee and forming a part of their first, and so far only, league winning side in 1962. At the age of 38, Smith had achieved the unique distinction of being the only player to win the league title with three different teams, remarkably despite playing for neither of the traditionally dominant "Old Firm".

The following season Smith, in a forward pairing with Alan Gilzean helped Dundee to the European Cup semi-finals, where they performed gallantly in an aggregate defeat to A.C. Milan. After leaving Dundee, he played briefly for Drumcondra in the Republic of Ireland before finally retiring.

During his playing career, Gordon Smith was capped 19 times by Scotland, scoring 4 goals.


Gordon Smith

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