The story of Jack Connor before, during and after his Celtic career brings to an end our review of the twenty names on the autograph list. Just one question remains. Why did it end up in Kingussie, and the Star Hotel in the village, specifically?
There have been various options suggested, perhaps the most obvious one being that the Celtic team had stayed there at one point, en route or returning from an away game, although in the early parts of the story I had struggled to find such a match where the names had aligned with those involved.
Perhaps the answer lies in a name which was not on the list, and for good reason, that of Peter Scarff. Much-loved inside forward Peter had taken ill in the aftermath of the death of John Thomson, struggling on for a few weeks before playing what would turn out to be his final match for the club in the 6-0 victory over Leith Athletic at Celtic Park on Saturday, 19 December 1931. There are reports of him coughing up blood afterwards, following which he was diagnosed as suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis. He would be hospitalised and would never recover from the illness, passing away almost exactly two years later at his home in Linwood, on Saturday, 9 December 1933. He was only 25.
This would not be a new experience for Celtic manager, Willie Maley, who had placed a Hoops top on Peter’s coffin. The best part of forty years earlier, he had watched as another Peter, left-half Dowds, had died from the same illness in nearby Johnstone, on 2 September 1895. He had been a teammate of Maley’s as the Scottish League commenced in August 1890 and had appeared in Celtic’s first Scottish Cup win in April 1892. Dowds then moved to England and enjoyed spells at Aston Villa and Stoke City before returning to Parkhead two years later. He would play only three more times for the club before contracting tuberculosis, passing away twelve months later, the first Celt to do so whilst still a player. He was one year younger than Peter Scarff, aged just 24 at the time of his death.
In the intervening years, Maley would see a number of his colleagues or players cut down before their prime, some of whom we have already covered in this article, Sunny Jim Young at 40 in a motor-cycle accident, Peter Johnstone in war-torn France and John Thomson in the act of protecting his goal. Each one would have hit the man who gave his own life to Celtic in a different way, just that little bit harder.
Treatment of chronic illnesses such as tuberculosis back then would normally have involved a stay in the horribly-named medical facilities of the time, known as sanitoriums. Both Peters were certainly treated in such establishments. Fast-forwarding two decades from Peter Scarff’s death, to the evening of Monday, 10 August 1953, we find Willie Maley returning to Celtic Park after an absence of over thirteen years, a legacy of the acrimonious manner of his departure from Parkhead in February 1940.
The now 85-year-old Maley was there to attend a testimonial match arranged in his honour between the recently-crowned Coronation Cup-winners and a Bohemians select. The historic event produced a memorable photograph where the past, present and future Celtic managers are captured together, as Maley is flanked by McGrory and captain Jock Stein as the sides pose in front of the main stand. The beneficiary of Willie Maley’s 1953 testimonial fund was a cause close to his heart and of which he had been a patron for many years…the Grampian Sanatorium in Kingussie.
So does the solution to the mystery of the Celtic autographs perhaps lie not on the pitch but in the legendary Celtic manager’s visits to the small Highland village to patronise or support a local hospital?
I guess we’ll never know for sure.
Willie Maley passed away five years later, on 2 April 1958, just a few weeks short of his 90th birthday, the last link to the origins of Celtic, having played with or managed all of the greats over half-a-century.
Dedicated to all of our Italian friends. Very much in our hearts and thoughts at this difficult time.
Thanks, as always, to the Celtic Wiki, a wonderful source of reference information.
Hail Hail!
Matt Corr
Follow Matt on Twitter @Boola_vogue
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