Legends of Association Football Rookie Series – Group 9 – Jack, Halliday and Dean
In this series, we profile three of the most gifted forwards the League has ever produced: David Jack, Dave Halliday and Dixie Dean.
21 David Jack – League Career 1919–1935
David Jack was both a prolific scorer and a born winner. He is the 14th player listed on the Football League 100 Legends.
David Jack was born into a Football family with his father Bob Jack playing at the top tier for Plymouth Argyle and two brothers who played professionally.
In fact, the Plymouth Argyle card from Ogden’s from the 1906 Football Club Colours features his father Bob Jack.
Like his father, David also started his career with Plymouth Argyle in 1919, but signed with his hometown Bolton Wanders in 1920 for a record fee of £3,500.
Jack played inside forward and went on to score a whopping 267 League goals over the course of his 15 year career. This tally places him tied for 6th with Charlie Buchan on all-time goals list at the top tier.
Image Source: Personal Collection
Jack made his name at Bolton where he won two FA cups in 1922–23, 1925–26 and then again with Arsenal in 1929–30. While Jack had much success at Bolton, the team had developed financial issues and decided to trade their star player to generate some revenue. In 1928, Jack broke signing records again when Arsenal paid a record amount of over £10,000 pounds for the transfer of Jack. Interestingly, he was acquired to replace another football legend Charlie Buchan, who nearing the end of his career.
Rookie card: Year circa 1921/22 Manufacturer -Godfrey Phillips – Set – Pinnace Footballers -Card No. 1084
Image Source: Personal Collection
Card Notes:
Jack represents the Bolton Wanderers to which he signed with in late 1920. The Jack card is in the high number part of the Pinnace series suggesting it was after October 1921 when this card was first released. Advertisements first mention that the Pinnace cards are over 1000 in October 1921. For more information on the Pinnace set, an excellent website devoted entirely to this set can be found here.
22) David Halliday League Career 1925 -1935
A football striker has one job and that’s to score goals, and Dave Halliday was very good at his job. Like Jack, Halliday was an absolute scoring machine. He started in the Scottish League with a year at Queen of the South and St. Mirren, and then spent four years at Dundee before signing with Sunderland in 1925. He is best known for his lights out scoring at Sunderland which in many ways is still unrivaled. His career goal per game proficiency was an absolutely staggering 0.82 goals per game over his League career. To put this in perspective, only two players in the hundred year history of the league scored at goals per game rate north of 80%: Dixie Dean 0.86 and Dave Halliday 0.82. In fact, its not even close with the next closest players under 0.69 goals per game.
For reasons beyond my comprehension, Halliday was left off the 100 Legends of Football League list. I believe that omission is absolutely a crime as Halliday must be in the conversation with Dixie Dean as one of the best of strikers the League ever produced. In fact, Halliday carries the record the fastest player to reach a 100 league goals in just 101 games. I believe had he achieved a 100 goals in 100 games, he would probably be a household name.
Rookie card: Year circa 1921/22 Manufacturer -Godfrey Phillips Ltd. – Set – Pinnace Footballers – Card No. 1302
Image Source: Personal Collection
Card Notes:
The card shown above is the LF-size (medium size) card; however, like most Pinnace cards the smaller kf size exists as well. Halliday is grouped with the Dundee team in the Pinnace collection i.e. cards 1300 to 1305 are from Dundee, which he joined in 1921. However, the photo shows Halliday wearing a St. Mirren jersey; a team which he left in 1921. In fact, it’s not entirely clear if the photo is of Halliday as Pinnace series made several mistakes of identify in the series.
23) Dixie Dean – League Career 1923–1939
William Ralph Dean better known as “Dixie” is the undisputed scoring king of Pre-War football. The Everton great’s rookie card is one of the most sought after among collectors.
Rookie card: Year 1925 – Manufacturer – D.C. Thomson – Set Name- Adventure and Vanguard Football Photos – Card Number 5
Image Source: 1920’s Heaven: Football Trade Cards of the 1920s (a great site by the way)
Card Notes:
Dixie Dean’s rookie card is actually one of the more clear cut cases of a rookie card. However, for some reason, the 1927 D.C. Thomson This Year’s Top-Form Footballers card of Dean is often labeled his rookie.
However, this card above is not the true rookie card of Dean coming out a full two years after the D.C. Thomson Adventure and Vanguard Card. Incidentally, Players’ Caricatures portraying Dean also came out in 1927.
The information provided is based upon research conducted on the subject; however, football cards and their issued dates should be considered vast evolving subject matter. I will update to the best of my knowledge as new information comes available but no one source should be considered definitive. If you have comments or corrections, please contact me and I will do my best to provide the most accurate information available.
The Cardboard Junkie 
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