About Jimmy Quinn
Lived 1878 – 1945 (aged 67). Jimmy Quinn was a British association football player.
James Quinn (8 July 1878 – 21 November 1945) was a Scottish footballer who played for Celtic for 15 years, becoming one of the club's leading goalscorers of all time. He also represented Scotland.
Career Club A native of the village of Croy, North Lanarkshire and signed for Celtic aged 22 by Willie Maley from junior club Smithston Albion in 1900, and cemented in the 1904 Scottish Cup Final against the same opposition. At half-time Rangers led by two goals to nil. In the second half, however, Celtic came back to win 3–2, Quinn scoring all the goals. This was the second hat-trick in a Scottish Cup Final; it was 68 years before the feat was repeated by Dixie Deans in Celtic's 6–1 defeat of Hibs in 1972. to add to the treble he'd netted against Celtic in the League Cup final two years earlier.
Quinn won six successive championship and five Scottish Cup medals with Celtic as the focal point of a forward line which became well known across the country: Bennett, McMenemy, Quinn, Somers and Hamilton. He scored 218 goals in 331 appearances in the two major competitions – 188 in the League (273 appearances including a playoff in 1905) and 30 in the Scottish Cup from 58 appearances, eight of them in finals (1904, 1908, 1909, and 1911), plus dozens more in various minor tournaments.
His strike rate of 0.65 – almost two goals every three games – is surpassed among Celtic goalscorers only by Jimmy McGrory, Henrik Larsson and Sandy McMahon. As a scorer of league goals, his total of 187 is behind McGrory alone. Quinn was the first Celtic player to score 200 goals for the club, and only four others have done so—McGrory, Bobby Lennox (273), Larsson (242), and Stevie Chalmers (228). Ninety years after his retirement, he remains the club's fifth highest goalscorer.
He received a benefit match in 1926, in which Celtic played against a Scottish League team, ending in a 3–3 draw.
His grandson of the same name also played for Celtic.
International Quinn scored seven goals in 11 appearances for Scotland including four out of five goals against Ireland in 1908, and eight in as many games for the Scottish League XI.
Honours Scottish League (6): 1904–05, 1905–06, 1906–07, 1907–08, 1908–09, 1909–10 Scottish Cup: (5) 1903–04, 1906–07, 1907–08, 1910–11, 1911–12 Finalist: 1908–09 British League Cup: 1901–02 Glasgow Cup: 1904–05, 1905–06, 1906–07, 1907–08, 1909–10
Don’t just read it —
keep it.
Full-length biographies made to live with: read them, listen on the way to work, watch them tonight.
- E-book
- Audio
- Video
Instant download · yours to keep · every purchase keeps this site free
Important facts
People in Jimmy Quinn's life
Named in this biography and alive at the same time
Contemporaries
People whose lives overlapped Jimmy Quinn's
Frequently asked questions
Who was Jimmy Quinn?
Scottish footballer
When was Jimmy Quinn born?
Jimmy Quinn was born on 8 July 1878 in Croy.
When did Jimmy Quinn die?
Jimmy Quinn died on 21 November 1945 in Croy.
What was Jimmy Quinn's occupation?
Jimmy Quinn was an association football player.
What nationality was Jimmy Quinn?
Jimmy Quinn was British.
Sources & further reading
· DBpedia: Jimmy Quinn (footballer, born 1878)
Cite this page
APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Jimmy Quinn. https://biography.guide/jimmy-quinn-association-football-player-1878/
MLA: "Jimmy Quinn." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/jimmy-quinn-association-football-player-1878/.
Chicago: "Jimmy Quinn." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/jimmy-quinn-association-football-player-1878/.
Data last updated: 2026-09-21 · Spot an error? Report a correction.
Portrait: Wikimedia Commons · author & licence
Page generated 2026-09-27 05:01 UTC