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Torrance Gillick (19 May 1915 – 16 December 1971) was a Scottish footballer who played as a winger for Rangers, Everton and Partick Thistle, and for the Scotland national team.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Torrance Gillick | ||
| Date of birth | 19 May 1915 | ||
| Place of birth | Airdrie, Scotland | ||
| Date of death | 16 December 1971 (aged 56) | ||
| Place of death | Glasgow | ||
| Height | 5 ft 7+1⁄2 in (1.71 m)[1] | ||
| Position(s) | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| Petershill | |||
| 1933–1935 | Rangers | 46 | (34) |
| 1935–1945 | Everton | 119 | (40) |
| 1945–1950 | Rangers | 58 | (25) |
| 1951–1952 | Partick Thistle | 7 | (1) |
| Total | 230 | (100) | |
| International career | |||
| 1937–1938 | Scotland | 5 | (2) |
| 1940–1943 | Scotland (wartime) | 4 | (1) |
| 1947–1948 | Scottish League XI | 3 | (1) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Born in Airdrie, Gillick was signed for Rangers in 1933, aged 18, by manager Bill Struth, after playing for prominent Glasgow junior club Petershill.[2] In his first spell with the club, he won the Scottish League and Scottish Cup in 1934–35,[3] and that summer was sold to Everton for a then record fee for the club, £8,000.[4]
He stayed on Merseyside until the Second World War and during that time won a Football League championship medal in 1939.[5]
During World War II, Gillick "guested" for home-town Airdrieonians and Rangers.[6][3] At the end of the war in 1945, Struth brought him back to Ibrox.[7] 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.[4] 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.[3] 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.[3]
Gillick left Rangers in 1950 but made a comeback Partick Thistle in August 1951. He played one season with the Jags[8] (managed at that time by his former Rangers teammate Davie Meiklejohn) before retiring to oversee his business interest, a Lanarkshire scrap metal firm. He died on 12 December 1971, aged 56, from undisclosed causes, on the same day as Alan Morton, also a retired Rangers player.[6][4]
Gillick was capped five times by Scotland between May 1937 and November 1938.[9] He also played in four unofficial wartime international matches,[10] and was selected three times for the Scottish Football League XI in the late 1940s once he returned to Rangers.[11]
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