| Jack Thomson |
 John Yungmann Thomson was born on Monday, 27th July, 1896, in Greenock, Renfrewshire. The 6' 0 (12st 0lbs) goalkeeper signed for George Easton's Thistle on Wednesday, 20th June, 1923, having most recently been with Alloa Athletic. Aged 27, he made his debut appearance on Thursday, 16th August, 1923, in a 1-1 draw at home to Clydebank FC in the SFL First Division. Jack kept his first clean-sheet on Saturday, 18th August, 1923, in a 3-0 win at home to Ayr United in the SFL First Division. He registered the last of his 9 clean-sheets on Saturday, 9th February, 1924, in a 3-0 win at home to Bo'ness in the Scottish Cup. He played his last game for the club on Saturday, 22nd March, 1924, in a 5-2 win at home to Dundee in the SFL First Division, having appeared as a Jag on 35 occasions. His club-list included Benburb, Bristol Rovers, Alloa Athletic, Partick Thistle, Aberaman Athletic, Aberdare Athletic, Brentford, Plymouth Argyle, Chesterfield, Coventry City, New York Nationals and Nuneaton Town. Jack died in May, 1980, in Westchester County, New York, aged 83. *
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 The son of John Yungmann Thomson (senior) and Helen Thomson (nÊe Murphy). The flame-haired Jack served in the Royal Navy during World War I, before his football career had really got going in earnest. He came through at Benburb and, in 1921, moved south to Bristol Rovers, recent founder members of Division Three South. His future brother-in-law, David Steele, played with him at Eastville. He played 6 games in that Division during 1921-22, before transferring to Aberaman Athletic of the South Wales League during that same season. Back up the road in May 1922, he joined top-flight Alloa Athletic, for whom he was a near ever-present in 1922-23. They finished bottom and were relegated, at which point Jack switched his allegiance to Partick Thistle. Jack had a much better time of it at Firhill, as Thistle finished 8th in the 20-team League. New competition for the #1 jersey arrived at the turn of the year however, and Joe Ramsay took the jersey for a run of 6 games from 12th February 1924 and, by season's end, had clearly taken over as the new number one. Displeased with his lack of first-team action, Jack headed back to Wales in January 1925, signing with Aberdare Athletic. His journey continued in 1925 with a move back to the Football League with Brentford, where he featured in 40 matches, and it was his impressive performances against Argyle that season that led to Plymouth Argyle's Bob Jack signing him in the summer of 1926. Like many before him, Jack soon realised that covering for Fred Craig was a mere occasional activity and he moved on in 1927 to sign for Chesterfield. After 22 appearances for The Spireites, he had brief spells with Coventry City, Aberdare Athletic (again), Stateside with New York Nationals in the short-lived American Soccer League, and finally Nuneaton Town in 1929-30. Jack married Grace Steele (David's younger sister) and, having had a taster a couple of years earlier, the two emigrated to the United States. They lived in Brooklyn, where Jack worked as a yardman. He became a U.S. Army reservist in late 1936, and subsequently served in the U.S. Army during World War 2. At the time of his death in May 1980, Jack was living in Ossining, New York. On account of his service during WWI & WWII, Jack is included in our feature piece, The Partick Thistle returned â. |
| (WS/GOS/JK/DMAC) |
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