John Hempsey (1889 – 2 August 1938) was a Scottish footballer who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for Rangers,

Morton Morton may refer to: People * Morton (surname) * Morton (given name) Fictional * Morton Koopa, Jr., a character and boss in ''Super Mario Bros. 3'' * A character in the ''Charlie and Lola'' franchise * A character in the 2008 film '' Horton ...

and

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

. Hempsey began his career at Port Glasgow Athletic (no official appearances registered) before moving to

in 1911. He joined Rangers a year later and would make 167 appearances in all competitions during his eight-year spell, winning the

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km south ...

title in 1912–13 after replacing the injured

Herbert Lock Herbert Lock (21 January 1887 – 16 March 1957) was an English professional goalkeeper who played for Southampton and Rangers in the early part of the twentieth century. Playing career Southampton Born in Southampton he played his early footb ...

. Rivals

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

thereafter dominated the league during the

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

period, but Hempsey did pick up four winner's medals from the

Glasgow Cup The Glasgow Cup is a football tournament open to teams from Glasgow, Scotland. Operated by the Glasgow Football Association, it was competed for annually by senior Glasgow clubs from 1887 until 1989. It is now (since the 2019–20 amended rules ...

(also serving two short loan spells at Morton and

) before Lock took over as the regular again in 1919–20. Hempsey joined King's Park, then playing in the

Central Football League There have been at least three competitions in Scotland known as the Central Football League The first was originally formed in 1896 by five clubs - Cowdenbeath, Dunfermline Athletic, Fair City Athletic, Kirkcaldy and St Johnstone. In 1897 this v ...

, for a year and returned to Greenock for a final season (serving as back-up to Dave Edwards) before retiring.

References

External links

Details of Rangers career
1938 deaths 1889 births Footballers from Greenock Scottish men's footballers Kilmarnock F.C. players Rangers F.C. players Greenock Morton F.C. players Men's association football goalkeepers Scottish Football League players King's Park F.C. players {{scotland-footy-goalkeeper-stub