Dixie Dean

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."[8]

Dean attended Laird Street School,[9] but felt he received no formal education: "My only lesson was football ... I used to give the pens out on Friday afternoons ... the ink, and the chalks. That was the only job I had in school ... I never had any lessons."[8] When he turned 11 he attended Albert (Memorial) Industrial School, a borstal school in Birkenhead, because of the football facilities on offer. The Dean family home had little room for him due to the family's size; Dean was happy with the arrangement, since he could play on the school's football team.[9] Dean falsely told fellow pupils he had been caught stealing, since he wanted to be "one of the boys".

He left school at 14 and worked for Wirral Railway as an apprentice fitter; his father also worked there, and had been working since he was 11 years old[8] for Great Western Railway. The elder Dean later became a train driver before moving to Birkenhead to work for Wirral Railway, to be closer to his future wife (and William Jr.'s mother) Sarah. Dean's father would later retire with the company.[9]

Dean took a night job so that he could concentrate on his first love, football: "The other two apprentice fitters, they didn't like the night job because there were too many bloody rats around there, coming out of the Anglo-Oil company and the Vacuum Oil Company  ... rats as big as whippets. So I took their night job, and of course, I could always have a game of football then."[8] Dean would kick the trespassing rats against the wall.

The sons of Dean's manager at Wirral Railway were directors of New Brighton A.F.C., and they were interested in signing Dean. However, Dean told the club he was not interested in signing and instead played for local team Pensby United in Pensby. It was at Pensby United where Dean attracted the attention of a Tranmere Rovers scout.[8]

Dean made his début for the England national football team against British rivals Wales at the Racecourse Ground in Wrexham in February 1927, less than a month after his 20th birthday. His final game for England came in a 1–0 victory over Ireland in October 1932 at Blackpool F.C.'s Bloomfield Road, when Dean was 25 years old.

Dean was involved in the 1927 and 1929 editions of the British Home Championship. During the 1927 edition, Dean scored four goals in his two games for England and scored twice against Scotland at Hampden Park. Despite the loss, the Scots won the competition overall and applauded Dean (who finished the tournament as top scorer). In the 1929 edition, he scored in his only outing against Ireland at Goodison Park.

The only international competitions outside the British Home Championship during Dean's international career were the 1928 and 1936 Olympic Games and the inaugural FIFA World Cup, which took place in 1930; however, neither Great Britain nor England participated. Dean represented England 16 times, scoring 18 goals in 9 games (including hat-tricks against Belgium and Luxembourg).

Dean in 1928 newspaper advertisement for Wix Cigarettes

Dean became a Freemason in 1931 while playing for Everton and England. He was initiated in Randle Holme Lodge, No. 3261, in Birkenhead on 18 February 1931.[20]

After retiring, he went on to run the Dublin Packet pub in Chester (Everton and the Dublin Packet commemorate this with memorabilia) and work at Littlewoods football pools as a porter at their Walton Hall Avenue offices, where he was remembered by fellow workers as a quiet, unassuming man.

In January 1972, Dean was admitted to St Catherine's hospital in Birkenhead suffering from the effects of influenza[21] and was released a month later.[22] In November 1976, he had his right leg amputated due to a blood clot; his health was declining, and he became increasingly homebound.

Dean died on 1 March 1980 at age 73 after suffering a heart attack at Everton's home ground Goodison Park whilst watching a match against their closest rivals, Liverpool. It was the first time that he had visited Goodison Park in several years, due to ill health. "He belongs to the company of the supremely great, like Beethoven, Shakespeare and Rembrandt", said Bill Shankly.[23] His funeral took place at St James' Church on Laird Street (the street where he was born) in Birkenhead.[24] He was survived by his four children: William, Geoffrey, Ralph and Barbara; he outlived his wife Ethel, who died of a heart attack in 1974 after 43 years of marriage.[25]

Dixie Dean statue outside Goodison Park

Dean was an internationally known figure. Military records show that during the Second World War, an Italian prisoner of war was captured by British troops in the Western Desert and told his captors "fuck your Winston Churchill and fuck your Dixie Dean".[26] One of the soldiers present was Liverpool-born Patrick Connelly, who later went into show business using the pseudonym "Bill Dean".[26]

Everton arranged a testimonial for Dean on 7 April 1964. Over 34,000 people saw teams from Scotland and England (composed of players from Everton and Liverpool) compete;[27] The "Scots" (with one Englishman and one Welshman) won, 3–1.[28]

The match raised £7,000 for Dean.

Dean's 1933 FA Cup winners medal sold for £18,213 at auction in March 2001.[29] In May 2001 local sculptor Tom Murphy created a statue of Dean, which was erected outside the Park End of Goodison Park at a cost of £75,000 with the inscription "Footballer, Gentleman, Evertonian".[30] In 2002, Dean was an inaugural inductee to the English Football Hall of Fame.[31] There is an annual Dixie Dean award, which is given to the Merseyside player of the year; it has been won by players from his former clubs (Tranmere and Everton) and Liverpool F.C.[32]

When asked if he thought his record of scoring 60 goals in a season would be broken, Dean said: "People ask me if that 60-goal record will ever be beaten. I think it will. But there's only one man who'll do it. That's the fellow that walks on the water. I think he's about the only one." In total, Dean scored 383 goals for Everton in 433 appearances—an exceptional strike-rate which includes 37 hat-tricks. He was known as a sporting player, never booked or sent off during his career despite rough treatment and provocation from opponents.[33] Only Arthur Rowley has scored more English-league career goals; however, while Rowley made 619 appearances and scored 433 goals (0.70 goals per game) Dean scored 379 goals in 438 games (0.87 goals per game).

In December 1930 and again in October 1931, Dixie Dean became the first Everton player to score two hat-tricks in one month of competitive play. His record stood for nearly 90 years until September 2020, when it was equalled by Dominic Calvert-Lewin.[34]

Dean was mentioned in a series 2 episode of The Thin Blue Line.

Everton

• Football League First Division: 1927–28, 1931–32
• Second Division Championship: 1930–31
• FA Charity Shield: 1928, 1932
• FA Cup: 1932–33

Sligo Rovers

• League of Ireland runners-up 1938–39
• FAI Cup runners-up: 1938–39

England

• British Home Championship: 1926–27 (shared), 1931–32 (shared)[35]

Individual[36]

• England Caps: 16
• England Goals: 18
• Football League Representative appearances: 6
• Football League Representative goals: 9
• Sunday Pictorial Trophy (60 league goals in 1927–28)
• Lewis's Medal (Commemorate 200 league goals in 199 appearances)
• Hall of Fame Trophy (1971)[37]
• Football Writers' Association inscribed silver salver (1976)
• English Football Hall of Fame (Inaugural inductee, 2002)[38]
• Most goals in an English top-flight season: 60 (1927–28)
• Seasonwise World Top Scorer: 1927–28 (60 goals)[39]

• Keith, John (2003). Dixie Dean: The Inside Story of a Football Icon. Robson Books. ISBN 978-1-86105-632-0.
• Upton, Gilbert (1992). Dixie Dean of Tranmere Rovers 1923–1925. Gilbert Upton. ISBN 978-0-9518648-1-4.
• Winner, David (2005). Those Feet: A Sensual History of English Football. London: Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-0-7475-7914-4.
• Walsh, Nick (1978). Dixie Dean: The Official Biography of a Goalscoring Legend. Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-330-25619-3.
• Young, Percy M. (1963). Football on Merseyside. London.

• Dixie Dean at IMDb