Thomas White (12 August 1939 – 17 December 2019) was a Scottish professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

. He played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

Football career

A prolific scorer during his early career with

Raith Rovers Raith Rovers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the town of Kirkcaldy, Fife. The club was founded in 1883 and currently competes in the as a member of the Scottish Professional Football League. The club has won f ...

, White's time at Rovers was shortened by two years of

National Service National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

, during which time he played for the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

. He also played for St Mirren, then managed by Jackie Cox. White joined Hearts for £8,000 in November 1963 and was soon dubbed "Goal-a-game White" by the local media.Hogan, p. 193 His attacking partnership with

Willie Wallace William Semple Brown Wallace (born 23 June 1940) is a Scottish former football player and coach. He won the European Cup with Celtic in 1967 along with several domestic honours. His other clubs included Stenhousemuir, Raith Rovers, Heart o ...

was particularly effective and earned the sobriquet the "W-formation", White's abrasive, bustling style complementing Wallace.Price pp. 42–43 In tandem, they scored 48 goals during the 1963–64 season; however, White's progress was interrupted when he suffered severe injuries in a car crash in

Wallyford Wallyford is a village near Musselburgh and approximately east of Edinburgh in East Lothian, Scotland. History The village was initially populated by coal miners and later grew as an overspill/commuter town for workers in Musselburgh and Ed ...

. White remained a regular in the Hearts side up until January 1965; however, with Donald Ford blossoming into first-team contention, manager Tommy Walker saw fit to allow White to go, and in June 1965 he moved to

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

in an exchange deal for

Don Kerrigan Don Kerrigan (7 May 1941 – 29 November 1990) was a Scottish professional footballer, who played for St Mirren, Aberdeen, Heart of Midlothian, Dunfermline Athletic, Fulham, Lincoln City and Portadown Portadown ( ) is a town in County A ...

. White moved to

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

, then playing in the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

, in May 1966, in a combined deal along with teammate John McCormick. He scored 14 times for Palace in 40 appearances, in all competitions, before moving to

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

in February 1968. He finished his playing career with a short spell at

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, England. Its first team competes in League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' ...

in 1971–72. He later became a director of Blackpool for 12 years only to be ousted by the then new chairman of the club,

Owen Oyston Owen John Oyston (born 3 January 1934) is an English businessman best known as the former majority owner of Blackpool F.C., Blackpool Football Club. Oyston was convicted of rape and indecent assault of a 16-year-old girl in 1996. He served three ...

Personal life

White was the younger brother of John White and Eddie White, both professional footballers. In July 1964 his 27-year-old brother John was killed at Crews Hill Golf Course, Enfield, by a

lightning Lightning is a natural phenomenon consisting of electrostatic discharges occurring through the atmosphere between two electrically charged regions. One or both regions are within the atmosphere, with the second region sometimes occurring on ...

-strike. That year in November, White played in a testimonial match for his sibling for Tottenham Hotspur against a Scotland national side; 25,000 spectators paid their respects, as, despite White's goal, Scotland won 6–2.

Death

White died on 17 December 2019, aged 80."Tommy White, former Hearts forward, dies at age of 80"
– ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact (newspaper), compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until ...

'', 17 December 2019

References

;Footnotes ;Sources * * *

External links

Appearance details
at londonhearts.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:White, Tom 1939 births 2019 deaths Scottish men's footballers Bonnyrigg Rose F.C. players Footballers from Musselburgh Raith Rovers F.C. players St Mirren F.C. players Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Aberdeen F.C. players Scottish Football League representative players Scottish Junior Football Association players Crystal Palace F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Bury F.C. players Crewe Alexandra F.C. players Blackpool F.C. managers Scottish Football League players English Football League players Men's association football forwards Blackpool F.C. directors and chairmen Scottish football managers 20th-century Scottish sportsmen