The recent passing of Sammy Cox prompted Tom Black to get in touch.
“Sad to hear that Sammy Cox had passed away at the age of 90,” said Dundee reader Tom.
“He was described as a ‘Rangers icon’ but he was already a star before he went to Ibrox.
“He played for Queen’s Park and then Dundee. Cox turned out 61 times for Dundee between 1944-46.
Sammy played his last match for Dundee against Rangers in a 3-1 League Cup quarter-final defeat.
“As Sammy played for Dundee as an amateur, no fee was paid by Rangers.
“He was a fully-fledged top-flight player when he joined the Gers.”
Tom concluded: “It was also in 1946 that a local newcomer played his first game for Dundee – Doug Cowie.
“Other soon to be long-servers at that time included Tommy Gallagher and Jerry Follon.”
* There have been quite a number of instances over the years where local cricketers were also very good at football and ended up signing for top soccer clubs.
Bill Murdoch, of Scone, remembers several such instances.
“When Bob Shankly was manager of Falkirk, he signed Leonard Dudman from Coupar Angus juniors,” recalled Bill, a retired lorry driver.
“Dudman also played cricket as an opening batsman for Perthshire and Scotland.
“Stirling Albion and Doncaster were two of the clubs also interested in the player at the time but he chose Falkirk as Shankly assured him he would be allowed to play cricket in the summer.”
Bill, formerly of Blairgowrie, continued: “Around the same time, Clyde goalkeeper Charlie Thomson, previously of Blairgowrie juniors, was also a cricketer (stumper-batsman) with Perthshire.
“He was then transferred from the Bully Wee to Chelsea, signed by legendary Stamford Bridge manager Ted Drake.”
[Formstack id=2098397 viewkey=k4fkCZ4KtH]
This article originally appeared on the Evening Telegraph website. For more information, read about our new combined website.