Dixie Dean

Dixie Dean

Dean at Goodison park while playing for Everton.
Personal information
Full name	William Ralph Dean
Date of birth	(1907-01-22)22 January 1907
Place of birth	Birkenhead, Cheshire, England
Date of death	1 March 1980(1980-03-01) (aged 73)
Place of death	Goodison Park, Liverpool, England
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Playing position	Centre forward
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1923–1925	Tranmere Rovers	30	(27)
1925–1937	Everton	399	(349)
1938–1939	Notts County	9	(3)
1939	Sligo Rovers	7	(10)
1940	Hurst	2	(1)
Total		447	(390)
National team
1927–1932	England	16	(18)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

William Ralph "Dixie" Dean (22 January 1907 – 1 March 1980) was an English footballer who played as a centre forward.

Born in Birkenhead, he began his career at his hometown club Tranmere Rovers before moving on to Everton, the club he had supported as a child. He was particularly known for scoring goals with his head. Dean played the majority of his career at Everton before injuries caught up with him and he moved on to new challenges at Notts County. He is best known for his exploits during the 1927–28 season, which saw him score a record 60 league goals. He also scored 18 goals in 16 appearances for England.

A statue of Dean was unveiled outside Goodison Park in May 2001. A year later, he became one of 22 players inducted into the inaugural English Football Hall of Fame. Dean was the first Everton player to wear the number-9 shirt, which in later years would become iconic at the club.

Dean was born at 313 Laird Street in Birkenhead, Cheshire, across the River Mersey from Liverpool. Dean's family on both sides hailed from Chester. He was the grandson of Ralph Brett, a train driver who drove the royal train during the reign of George V. Dean grew up as a supporter of Everton thanks to the efforts of his father, William Sr., who took him to a match during the 1914–1915 title-winning season.

Dean's childhood coincided with the First World War, and between the ages of 7 and 11 he delivered cow's milk to local families as part of the "war effort: "Well, it was war time you see, so you were grafting all the time. I used to take milk out. I'd be up at half-past four in the morning and go down and get the ponies and the milk floats, then I'd come out to this place in Upton, between Upton and Arrowe Park, and Burgess' Farm was there. We used to collect the milk in the big urns and take it out to people's houses, serving it out of the ladle. And not only that, you had an allotment, and that was in school time. And there was no such thing as pinching and stealing and all that bloody caper. In those days, you were growing all that stuff and you needed it for the war time."