Tam McKenzie
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Thomas McKenzie | ||
| Date of birth | 5 November 1922 | ||
| Place of birth | Edinburgh, Scotland | ||
| Date of death | 1967 (aged 44–45) | ||
| Place of death | Peterborough, England | ||
| Height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | ||
| Playing position | Defender | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Pentland Rovers | |||
| – | Haddington Athletic | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1942–1959 | Hearts | 255 | (3) |
| 1959–1960 | Wisbech Town | ||
| 1960– | March Town | ||
| Teams managed | |||
| 1960– | March Town | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
|||
Thomas "Tam" McKenzie (5 November 1922 – November 1967) was a Scottish professional footballer who spent most of his career with Heart of Midlothian.
McKenzie was born in Edinburgh and joined Hearts from Haddington Athletic in 1942 as a centre-half, having initially played as a centre forward as a juvenile with Pentland Rovers. After only one appearance for the Hearts team in the Wartime League, he left for Arakan, where he served in The Royal Scots during the Second World War.
McKenzie returned to Edinburgh at the war's conclusion and established himself in Hearts first team as a left back. He formed a lengthy full back partnership with Bobby Parker who joined in April 1947. Renowned for his strength and tackling skill, McKenzie enjoyed particular success in his personal battles against one of Scotland's most famous right wingers of the time, Hibernian's Gordon Smith. Despite Hibs enjoying great success in the late 1940s and early 1950s, McKenzie's effective shackling of Smith ensured that Hearts enjoyed the upper hand in Derby matches of the era.
McKenzie captained Hearts during the 1949-50 season. The first seeds of the Tommy Walker managerial success at Hearts were sown by Davie McLean. On 9 October 1948, after a mediocre start to the 1948–49 season Hearts' manager McLean combined three young forwards, Jimmy Wardhaugh, Willie Bauld and Alfie Conn Sr., for the first time. They became dubbed the Terrible Trio and scored over 900 Hearts goals between them (Wardhaugh 376, Bauld 355, Conn 221). The combination of Wardhaugh's dribbling skills and non-stop running, Bauld's cerebral play and prodigious aerial ability, and Conn's energetic, tenacious style and powerful shooting complemented each other well. Their first match as a forward combination ended in a 6–1 defeat of Scot Symon's impressive East Fife team of the era. This was notable as Symon's team had defeated the Maroons 4–0 a matter of weeks earlier.
...
Wikipedia