Jimmy Gabriel was the player whose dazzling talent illuminated Dens Park: quite literally.
Dundee FC could not turn down the £27,000 offered by Everton for the 19-year-old star in 1960 and used the cash to pay for its first set of floodlights.
Jimmy’s sister Sheila Balfour said: “He was the most expensive signing to come out of Scotland at the time.
“It was a huge sum in those days and it paid for the floodlights at Dens Park.
“After that, they were known as Gabriel’s Beacons. I think Jimmy was proud of that and so were we.”
Jimmy died in Arizona on Saturday. He had moved there from Seattle five years ago to be closer his daughter Samantha and her family.
Following his passing, Sheila opened the family album to share photos of Jimmy’s early life with readers of The Courier and Evening Telegraph.
He had a stellar playing career at Everton, Southampton, Bournemouth and Seattle Sounders followed by a coaching career at Everton, Bournemouth and in the United States.
Jimmy was born in Dundee in 1940, the son of James Gabriel and his wife Mary.
The family home was in Haldane Terrace and Jimmy had four sisters – Maureen, Patricia, Anne and Sheila.
Their father was a supervisor with Dundee Corporation cleansing department who had also been a football player.
He turned out for St Joseph’s in the late 1920s and later had a spell at East Fife.
Jimmy was educated at SS Peter and Paul, Byron Street, followed by Lawside Academy.
It was during his secondary education when he was playing for Scotland under-15 schoolboys that he caught the eye of the Dundee FC manager Willie Thornton.
He was signed and made his first team debut in August 1958 against Motherwell.
Jimmy racked up 67 appearances for the Dark Blues before new manager Bob Shankly accepted Everton’s handsome offer.
Sheila said: “When Jimmy moved to Liverpool we used to go to see him a lot.
“It was the time of The Beatles and Jimmy knew a lot of famous people but we never met The Beatles.
“In fact, I had to come home to Dundee to see The Beatles at the Caird Hall in the 1960s.”
Goals tally
Jimmy scored 37 goals over 304 games for Everton before signing for Southampton for £42,500 in 1967. He played 224 matches and scored 27 for Saints.
He also won two Scotland caps.
When he moved to Liverpool aged 19, Jimmy met this future wife, Patricia. They married at Holy Rosary Church, Liverpool, when Jimmy was 21 and Pat 19.
They went on to have three daughters – Karen, Janet and Samantha.
After spells at Bournemouth, Swindon and Brentford, Jimmy moved to Seattle Sounders in 1974 as a player/coach.
George Best
He later coached San Jose Earthquakes, where George Best played before returning to the UK in 1986 to coach at Bournemouth and Everton. He went on to have a further spell coaching in Seattle.
Sheila said: “Jimmy returned to Seattle and in effect retired there because the girls had stayed in the USA when he came back to Britain.
“He really liked it there.
“For the past five years he had been living in Arizona to be close to Samantha and his funeral will take place there.
“At the time Jimmy moved from Dundee to Everton he was the most expensive teenage transfer of the age. We were proud of that and proud of all he achieved.”