Jim Baxter

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James Curran Baxter, (September 29, 1939 – April 14, 2001), was a Scottish football (soccer) player.

Born in Hill of Beath, Fife, he started his career at Raith Rovers F.C. before moving to boyhood heroes Rangers F.C. for a Scottish record transfer fee £17,500 aged 20 in 1960. He spent five years at Rangers before moving to Sunderland A.F.C. Two years later, in 1967, he joined Nottingham Forest F.C. However by this time he was becoming more known for his off-field antics. He briefly returned to Rangers in 1969 before retiring from football in 1970 aged only 30. He also won 34 caps for Scotland.

Baxter is particularly remembered for his inspirational role in Scotland's famous 3-2 hammering of England in 1967. After a sensational performance, Baxter infamously began playing "keepie uppie" or ball juggling during the match in an effort to torment the opposition. As Scotland were the first team to beat England after the 1966 World Cup, the Tartan Army proclaimed themselves world champions.

Baxter himself ^[1] regarded his performance in the 1963 defeat of England at Wembley as superior to the '67 game. Scotland played most of the game with 10 men as Eric Caldow's leg was broken in a tackle early in the game, and in the early '60's there were no substitutes. Remarkably, Baxter scored Scotland's first after winning a tackle. He scored the second from a penalty. Caldow was the designated penalty taker, and Baxter stated in 2001 that he "had never taken a penalty in my life before".

Once, later in his life, asked if having been paid the huge sums of money footballers in later decades received would have made a difference to his lifestyle, he famously replied, "Definitely. I'd have spent £50,000 a week at the bookies instead of £100."

Despite his off-pitch behaviour of womanizing, frequently getting drunk and gambling he is remembered as one of the greatest Scottish players of all time and there is much surprise that he won only 34 caps.

Baxter lost a long battle against cancer when he died April 2001.

The Tartan Army unsuccessfully attempted to get the new Wembley footbridge named after him just to annoy the English, with many Scots flooding a poll held by radio station Five Live.