On Saturday, 5 November 1960, Willie came face to face with his old friend Stevie Chalmers again, as Celtic visited Starks Park on League business. There were plenty of fireworks on the field as the sides shared four goals, with Chalmers netting a late equaliser for the visitors. By this time, Jim Baxter had departed Kirkcaldy to join Rangers.
Three months later, the teams clashed again at the same venue, this time in the third round of the 1960/61 Scottish Cup. Willie had now moved from the wing to centre-forward, and he equalised in the 13th minute, his first goal against Celtic, after Stevie Chalmers – who else – had put the Hoops ahead within seven minutes.
Another future Lisbon Lion, John Hughes, would put the seal on a 4-1 victory for the Bhoys with the final goal in injury time. Celtic would eventually lose the Scottish Cup final that April to Jock Stein’s Dunfermline Athletic, and in the same month, Willie was on the move up again, this time to join Scottish champions Hearts, his role in the double-transfer with defender Willie Polland memorably described by Raith manager Bert Herdman as “the spare pair of trousers for the suit!” Motivational or what? In the last League game of that season, on Tuesday, 2 May 1961, Willie became the first spare pair of trousers to score at Parkhead, his goal the opener in a 3-1 win for Hearts over Celtic in front of a paltry 7,000 crowd, his direct opponent being a young sweeper named John Clark.
Willie would open the scoring again in the next clash with Celtic, this time at Tynecastle on Saturday, 21 October 1961, Hearts winning 2-1 in a game in which Billy McNeill spent much of the 90 minutes injured on the right wing and John Hughes pulled a goal back for Celtic in the second-half, after the hosts had led 2-0 at the interval.
Seven days later, Willie played in the biggest match of his career to date, lining up in the Scottish League Cup final in front of nearly 90,000 spectators at Hampden. Hearts’ opponents were Rangers, now including his old Raith Rovers teammate Jim Baxter. The sides would draw 1-1 on the day, after extra-time, with Wallace injured by the time the replay came around in December, the Ibrox club winning that one 3-1.
The big occasions came thick and fast around that time. On Monday, 6 November 1961, Willie came up against Helenio Herrera and Inter Milan for the first time, the Edinburgh side losing 1-0 at Tynecastle before shipping four goals without replay in the San Siro two weeks later, in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, forerunner to the UEFA Cup. There would be payback for those results for Wallace a few years down the line, in the biggest tournament of them all.
February 1962 saw a high-scoring double-header between Hearts and Celtic in the space of a few days. The Scottish Cup-tie at Tynecastle on Saturday 17th saw the Bhoys edge a seven-goal thriller at Tynecastle, with Pat Crerand grabbing the winner with a late retaken penalty, after Gordon Marshall senior had saved his first effort, the fifth goal to be scored in the final 20 minutes.
Crerand and Wallace had faced one another as juniors many years earlier, when Paddy had starred for Duntocher Hibs and Willie at Kilsyth. Four nights later, the sides would share the spoils in a 2-2 League draw at Celtic Park, although Willie would sit this one out.
But the biggest match of Willie’s 1961/62 season would take place off the park, on Monday, 2 April 1962, when he married his long-time girlfriend Olive Macaulay at Anderson Parish Church in Kilsyth, with a reception in the local masonic halls. By the Thursday, after a three-night honeymoon in Aberfoyle, the new husband was back in training at Tynecastle!
Wallace was back in the team when the clubs next met on the opening day of the next season, Saturday, 11 August 1962, a new era for Celtic commencing as Billy McNeill skippered the Hoops for the first time whilst a teenage Bobby Murdoch made his debut, allegedly after John Divers had turned up at the ground without his football boots! Bobby headed Celts in front in the 7th minute, Charlie Gallagher and John Hughes also on target as the Hoops claimed a 3-1 win in the initial League Cup sectional match. The two Dundee clubs made up a tough group, the men from Dens Park being the newly-crowned Scottish champions.
Willie would take his revenge on Celtic two weeks later at Tynecastle, scoring twice either side of the break, the second from the penalty spot, to give Hearts a 3-0 lead, enough to secure the two points, despite second-half strikes from Bobby Murdoch and John Hughes.
The Gorgie men would finish one point ahead of Celtic to win the section and would then eliminate Morton and St Johnstone to return to Hampden for a second successive League Cup final. On Saturday, 27 October 1962, the 22-year-old Willie Wallace was back in his old right-wing slot for the match against Willie Waddell’s Kilmarnock at Hampden, in front of 51,000 spectators, the majority wearing the maroon of Hearts. They would not be disappointed.
The only goal of the final was scored just before the half-hour by Tynecastle centre-forward Norrie Davidson. There was a huge scare right on the full-time whistle when Frank Beattie appeared to have levelled things for Killie, the goal surprisingly ruled out for an infringement. Seconds later it was all over, and Willie had his first medal in senior football.
It would not be his last.
With a League Cup-winners medal in his pocket, Hearts striker Willie Wallace set about adding more honours to his collection. Celtic would prevent a potential Tynecastle cup double in that 1962/63 season by knocking the Gorgie men out of the Scottish Cup on Wednesday, 6 March 1963, despite Willie opening the scoring at Parkhead in the 10th minute, goals from Bobby Murdoch, John McNamee and John Hughes seeing the Celts through 3-1 on the night. Hearts would finish the League season one point behind fourth-place Celtic.
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