Gil Heron
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Gilbert Heron | ||
| Date of birth | 9 April 1922 | ||
| Place of birth | Kingston, Jamaica | ||
| Date of death | 27 November 2008 (aged 86) | ||
| Place of death | Detroit, United States | ||
| Playing position | Centre forward | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| – | Detroit Corinthians | ? | (?) |
| – | Detroit Wolverines | ? | (?) |
| 1951–1952 | Celtic | 5 | (2) |
| 1952–1953 | Third Lanark | 7 | (5) |
| 1953–1954 | Kidderminster Harriers | ? | (10) |
| – | Detroit Corinthians | ? | (?) |
| Total | ? | (?) | |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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Gil Heron (9 April 1922 – 27 November 2008) was a Jamaican professional footballer. He was the first black player to play for Scottish club Celtic, and was the father of poet and musician Gil Scott-Heron.
He died in Detroit of a heart attack on 27 November 2008.
Born Gilbert Heron in Kingston, Jamaica, he came from a family of means.
He moved to Canada as a youth and was later enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force. As well as being a track athlete and a boxer, he played football and broke through during his stay there. A centre forward, he signed for Detroit Corinthians and the champion Detroit Wolverines, where he was top goalscorer in the 1946 season of the North American Soccer Football League.
He was spotted by a scout from Glasgow Celtic while the club was on tour in North America, and he was signed by the Scottish club in 1951 after being invited over for a trial. Becoming the first black player for Celtic, and the first to play professionally in Scotland, Heron went on to score on his debut on 18 August 1951 in a League Cup tie against Morton that Celtic won 2–0. Heron only played five first-team matches in all, scoring twice. He was released by the club the next year after making one appearance in the Scottish Football League and joined Third Lanark where he played in seven League Cup matches, scoring five goals but did not appear in the League. Next he went to English club Kidderminster Harriers before moving back to Detroit Corinthians. At Celtic he earned the nicknames "The Black Arrow" and "The Black Flash".
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