Nick Ross (footballer, born 1862)

Nicholas John Ross (6 December 1862 – 7 August 1894) was a Scottish footballer.

Nick Ross
Personal information
Date of birth (1862-12-06)6 December 1862
Place of birth Edinburgh, Scotland
Date of death 7 August 1894(1894-08-07) (aged 31)
Position(s) Defender / Striker
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1880–1883 Heart of Midlothian
1883–1888 Preston North End
1888–1889 Everton 19 (4)
1889 Linfield
1889–1893 Preston North End 95 (25)
International career
1891[1] Football League XI 1 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Career

He played for, and captained, Heart of Midlothian in the early stages of his football career before being persuaded to join Preston North End by club secretary William Sudell who also provided him with a job as a slater. Preston North End converted Ross from a centre-forward to a left-back.

Ross was made captain of Preston and over the next few years earned a reputation as one of the best defenders in English football. He featured in the 1886–87 FA Cup Semi-Final where Preston were beaten 2–1 by West Bromwich Albion. He was transferred to Everton in July 1888 where he was reportedly paid £10 per month – a significantly above-average wage for a footballer at the time.[2]

1888–89 Season

Nick Ross made his League debut on 8 September 1888, playing as a full–back, at Anfield, the then home of Everton. The home team defeated the visitors Accrington 2–1. He scored his debut League goal on 15 September 1888, playing at full-back, at Anfield when the visitors were Notts County. The home team defeated the visitors 2–1 with Ross scoring the second of Everton' two goals. He was the first ever full–back to score a League goal. Ross appeared in 18 of the 22 League matches played by Everton in season 1888–89, scoring four League goals. As a full-back he played in an Everton defence that kept two clean sheets.[3]

After Everton

He returned to Preston after just one season with Everton, during which time Preston won both the League Championship and the FA Cup. During his second spell with the club he was converted to a striker and helped the club win the 1889–90 League Championship, the second in a row. Health problems forced him to retire from football in 1893 and he died a year later from tuberculosis.[4]

His younger brother, Jimmy, was also a noted footballer for Preston, part of "The Invincibles", and the league top scorer for the 1890–91 season.

Legacy

In 1906 William Pickford, co-author of Association Football and the Men who Made it (1905) and a future FA President, described Nick Ross as a footballing genius matched only by Ernest Needham and G.O. Smith.

Professional baseball

In 1890 Ross, along with his brother, were recruited by Preston North End Baseball Club[5] for the 1890 National League of Baseball of Great Britain, playing first base. Both brothers featured prominently for the reserve amateur team, who won the 1890 Amateur Championship Baseball Cup.[6]

References
  1. Football Alliance v Football League, 20 April 1891, 11v11.com
  2. Matthews, Tony (2004). Who's Who of Everton. Mainstream Publishing. p. 223. ISBN 9781840188196.
  3. "English National Football Archive". Retrieved 8 February 2018. (registration & fee required)
  4. The Coodnaes, Scots Football Worldwide
  5. "The Spalding Amateur Baseball Cup". Lancashire Evening Post. 30 September 1890. p. 4.
  6. "The Amateur Championship Baseball Cup". Preston Herald. 13 May 1891. p. 5.
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