Dixie Dean

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dixie Dean
Image:Dixie Dean.jpg
Personal information
Full name William Ralph Dean
Date of birth 22 January 1907(1907-01-22)
Place of birth    Birkenhead, England
Date of death    1 March 1980 (aged 73)
Place of death    Liverpool, England
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Playing position Striker
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1923–1925
1925–1937
1938–1939
1939
1939		 Tranmere Rovers
Everton
Notts County
Sligo Rovers
Hurst F.C.		 030 0(27)
399 (349)
009 00(3)
   
National team
1927–1932 England 016 0(18)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only.
* Appearances (Goals)

William Ralph Dean (22 January 1907 - 1 March 1980), popularly known as Dixie Dean, was an English football player and the most prolific goal-scorer in English football history,[1] best known for his legendary exploits at Everton.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Born in Birkenhead, Merseyside, Dean initially played for his local club Pensby before moving to Tranmere Rovers, before moving to his boyhood side, Everton, for a fee of £3,000 in 1925, and immediately made an impact, scoring 32 goals in his first full season.

Despite a serious motorcycle accident in Holywell North Wales in 1926, in which he suffered a fractured skull and jaw, Dean fully recovered and went on to greater success at the club. He is still the only player in English football to have scored 60 League goals in one season (1927-28).[2] In the same season Everton won the Division One title. Although Everton were relegated to Division Two in 1930, Dean stayed with them, and the club subsequently won the Second Division in 1931, followed by the First Division again in 1932, and the FA Cup in 1933 - a sequence of success not matched since.

By then, Dean was captain of the side. However, the harsh physical demands of the game (as it was played then) took their toll, and he was dropped from the first team in 1937. Dean went on to play for Notts County and then Sligo Rovers in Ireland. He ended his professional playing career with Hurst F.C. in the Cheshire County League. After retiring, he went on to run the Dublin Packet pub in Chester, England, and work at Littlewoods Football pools as a porter at their Walton Hall Avenue offices, where he was remembered by fellow workers as a quiet, unassuming man.

In total, Dean scored 383 goals for Everton, in 433 appearances, an exceptional strike-rate. With modern scoring rates being much lower, both that record, and the record of 60 League goals in a season, are unlikely to ever be broken. He was also known as a very professional player, having never been booked or sent off throughout his entire career despite suffering rough treatment and provocation from opponents (indeed Dean lost a testicle in one tackle).[3]

Only Arthur Rowley has scored more English league career goals, although it should be noted that while Rowley made 619 appearances, scoring 433 goals (0.70 goals per game), Dean scored 379 goals in 438 games (0.87 goals per game), and while Dean spent one prolific season in the Second Division, that was all, while Rowley spent several seasons in the third and fourth divisions.

He joined Sligo Rovers in January 1939 in time to help the club with their FAI Cup campaign. He played 7 league games for the club, scoring ten goals, including 5 in a 7-1 win over Waterford which remains a club record for the most goals scored in a single game. He also played four Cup matches scoring once. His goal came in the final against Shelbourne which ended in a 1-1 draw, Shelbourne taking the replay 0-1. Subsequently, Dixie’s runners up medal was stolen from his hotel room. On a return trip to Ireland to watch Rovers in the 1978 cup final a package was delivered to his hotel room with the medal inside.

He also made 16 appearances for England, scoring 18 goals. Six of those goals came in the way of hat-tricks. Dean scored three against Belgium in May 1927 and then another three against Luxembourg 10 days later.

His nickname "Dixie" is said to have been given to him by fans due to his dark complexion and curly black hair, which was, in their perception, similar to that of African-Americans in the Southern United States. Dean himself deeply disliked the moniker, preferring to be known as Bill.

Dean died from heart failure in 1980 at Goodison Park, Everton's home ground, whilst watching a match against their closest rivals, Liverpool. Liverpool won the match 2-1. In 2001, a statue of Dean was erected outside the Park End of the stadium carrying the inscription, "Footballer, Gentleman, Evertonian." In 2002 Dean became an Inaugural Inductee to the English Football Hall of Fame. In 2003, Littlewoods Football pools sponsored the ‘Dixie Dean Award’ for Everton Personality of the Year, at the Merseyside Sports Personality of the Year Awards. It was won by former Everton boss Howard Kendall.

[edit] Reviving the Memory

The Liverpool based film company, Tabacula, are starting work on a major drama/documentary with the working title "Dixie, The people’s legend". It will tell the story of his childhood in the cobbled streets of Edwardian Birkenhead, and his elevation to one of the worlds most famous footballers.

[edit] Ability

Dean's athletic skills, in particular dribbling, running, shooting and ability to create goals for others, were considered exceptional by sports writers of the time. According to his peers, however, his greatest ability was heading, a skill he practiced often using a medicine ball with fellow player Tommy Lawton. About half of the goals credited to him came from headers, and his skills are compared to Pelé and Alfredo Di Stéfano.

[edit] Achievements

[edit] Awards

[edit] Career statistics

Club Division Season League FA Cup Club Total International Total Games
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Notts County Third 1938-39 6 3 - - 6 3 - - 6 3
Third 1937-38 3 0 - - 3 0 - - 3 0
Total 9 3 - - 9 3 - - 9 3
Everton First 1937-38 5 1 - - 5 1 - - 5 1
First 1936-37 36 24 4 3 40 27 - - 40 27
First 1935-36 29 17 - - 29 17 - - 29 17
First 1934-35 38 26 5 1 43 27 - - 43 27
First 1933-34 12 9 - - 12 9 - - 12 9
First 1932-33 39 24 6 5 45 29 1 0 46 29
First 1931-32 38 45 1 1 39 46 1 1 40 47
Second 1930-31 37 39 5 9 42 48 1 0 43 48
First 1929-30 25 23 2 2 27 25 - - 27 25
First 1928-29 29 26 1 0 30 26 3 1 33 27
First 1927-28 39 60 2 3 41 63 5 4 46 67
First 1926-27 27 21 4 3 31 24 5 12 36 36
First 1925-26 38 32 2 1 40 33 - - 40 33
First 1924-25 7 2 - - 7 2 - - 7 2
Total 399 349 32 28 431 377 16 18 447 395
Tranmere Third 1924-25 27 27 3 0 30 27 - - 30 27
Third 1923-24 3 0 - - 3 0 - - 3 0
Total 30 27 3 0 33 27 - - 33 27
Career Totals 438 379 35 28 473 407 16 18 489 425

[edit] References

  1. ^ Beesley, Christopher (2007-01-11). Living up to legend of number nines. Retrieved on 2007-01-12.
  2. ^ English League Leading Goalscorers 1889-2007. RSSSF. Retrieved on 2007-08-14.
  3. ^ Winner, D: THOSE FEET: A SENSUAL HISTORY OF FOOTBALL, pp. 274, 2005.

[edit] External links

Awards
Preceded by
Jimmy Trotter		 First Division top scorer
1927–28		 Succeeded by
Dave Halliday
Preceded by
Tom Waring		 First Division top scorer
1931–32		 Succeeded by
Jack Bowers