| Torry Gillick |
 Torrance Gillick was born on Friday, 19th May, 1916, in Gartness, North Lanarkshire. The forward signed for Davie Meiklejohn's Thistle on Friday, 10th August, 1951, having most recently been with Rangers. Aged 35, he made his debut appearance on Saturday, 25th August, 1951, in a 5-1 defeat away to Hibernian in the League Cup. Torry scored his only goal for Thistle on Wednesday, 13th February, 1952, in a 2-1 win away to Heart of Midlothian in the SFL First Division. He played his last game for the club on Saturday, 15th March, 1952, in a 2-2 draw away to Airdrieonians in the SFL First Division, having appeared as a Jag on 10 occasions. His club-list included Petershill, Rangers, Everton, Airdrieonians and Partick Thistle. Torry died on Wednesday, 15th December, 1971, in Glasgow, aged 55. |
 A hall-of-famer at both Rangers and Everton, Torry, the “master of the shimmy”, was a left-sided forward who was blessed with a good footballing brain. He was always looking to outwit his opponent, and was never afraid to cut in and have a go himself, his technique resulting in an exceptional goal haul for a winger. Thistle fans of that era knew it only too well, for Torry scored 22 goals against the Jags! A hot prospect at Petershill, Bill Struth brought Torry to Rangers in May 1933 and, within 2 years, he'd won the league and cup double as a teenager. Immediately following that success, he was sold to Everton in the summer of 1935 for a club-record fee of £8,000. He blossomed on Merseyside too, and was delighted to add a Football League championship medal to his collection in 1939, contributing 14 goals to that campaign, and missing only two matches. The Scottish selectors kept him in mind whilst an Evertonian and Torry was officially capped five times by Scotland between May 1937 and December 1938. His domestic goalscoring prowess was maintained on the international stage, with 3 goals against Czechoslovakia, Wales & Hungary. In late 1938, Torry featured in the wins over Northern Irleand and Wales which would ensure a share of the British title for Scotland. Like many players, Torry was robbed of a greater cap tally due to the Second World War, although he made 3 appearances in wartime internationals. During World War II, Torry "guested" for his home-town team, Airdrieonians, as well as Rangers. At the end of the war, Struth brought him back to Ibrox. He developed into a forward with excellent ball control and vision and became a feature in the famous post-war Rangers side, forming a partnership on the right wing with Willie Waddell. In his second spell at Rangers, he won one League Championship medal (1946–47), a Scottish Cup in 1947–48 and two League Cup medals (1946–47, 1948–49) in addition to several wartime competitions. By coincidence, the last trophy he lifted was the Glasgow Cup with a win over Clyde in October 1949, the same tournament and opponent the first cup he won with Rangers 16 years earlier. Torry left Rangers in 1950, but made a comeback with Partick Thistle in August 1951. He played one season with the Jags (managed at that time by his former Rangers teammate Davie Meiklejohn) before retiring to oversee his business interests in Lanarkshire. As sportswriter Eric Brown tells, Torry ran a profitable scrap metal business and turned his interest in greyhound racing into a successful sideline by becoming an owner. A fall in a haulage yard in late 1971 caused temporary bruising to his head. He continued to complain of headaches and collapsed in his bathroom suffering a brain aneurysm. He could not be saved. Torry Gillick, master of the shimmy and the cross, died aged just 55. On 17 December 1971, the entire Rangers first team squad, management staff and board attended Torry’s funeral and he was buried at the same Old Monklands cemetery as his parents and daughter, Isobel. Torry is included in our feature piece, The Definitive Who's Who Of The Partick Thistle Internationalists → |
| (WS/WIK) |
5 caps, 3 goals
d. Glasgow, 1971 (55)
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