A HUNDRED AND FORTY YEARS ago today, a baby boy came into the world in the Dunbartonshire mining village of Croy.  Jimmy Quinn would go on to become one of the most revered and legendary names in Celtic history.

Bracketed with the likes of Gallacher, McGrory, Thomson, Delaney, The Lisbon Lions, Dalglish and Larsson … to name a very select few … ‘The Bison’ is an immortal Celt.

Hail! Hail! to the Mighty Quinn!

“Quinnery” 

‘The Bison’ (Jimmy Quinn)

 

Across the decades strewn in Walfrid’s wake,

three awesome names, of time

have stood the test –

as leaders of the line, the very best …

the power within:

McGrory … Larsson … … and

the great James Quinn.

 

A trinity that stirs the very soul,

evokes the living spirit

of our club –

whose lionising here implies no snub,

demeans no-one:

as neither does to fête

a cherished son.

 

Pre-eminent in our triumvirate

by simple dint of having

been the first

to break the mould and slake our raging thirst

for idols true:

brave Jimmy Quinn … a one-

man wrecking crew.

 

Proud bison of a man … yet, humble still,

as well behoved an upright

son of Croy,

whose Irish roots inclined him to deploy

his ample frame

in Celtic’s cause, through which

he rose to fame.

 

His era brooked no weakness, no faint heart:

the game, a brutal echo

of its time –

but respite from the back-break and the grime

deep underground,

unearthing rakers for

the exploiters’ pound.

 

For second-generation Irish Scots,

identity and strife went

hand in hand –

their struggle in a cold adoptive land

was no picnic:

their succour was their bond …

its heart, Celtic.

 

A name inspired by Walfrid’s vision of

a bridge between the Scots

and Irish Celts –

a bridge that Quinn would cross, whereby he dealt

a telling blow:

in exploits both traditions

lauded so.

 

Phenomenal … an icon out of time,

Quinn reaped but scant deserts

of his repute –

he shot to prominence … rewards minute,

then walked away:

lived out his days, revered

… but quietly.

 

In times where egos far outweigh their worth,

it’s hard to fully grasp

the common touch

the mighty Quinn exuded by the hutch,

despite his fame:

true hallmark of a giant

of the game.

 

Rhavanelli

Copyright 25thMay1967