THE last hero of Aberdeen’s 1947 Scottish Cup-winning team, Archie Baird, has died.
Pittodrie legend Mr Baird, who was part of the first Dons team to win the Scottish Cup, died on Tuesday, aged 90.
He survived World War II prisoner-of-war camps, enjoyed a memorable career in football, turned his hand to journalism, and ended his working life as a teacher.
Mr Baird, brought up in Rutherglen, signed for Aberdeen in 1938 after he attracted attention from throughout Britain while playing junior football.
Blackpool, Swindon, Par-tick Thistle and Motherwell all made approaches for the 6ft 2in centre-forward but no one convinced his mother she should allow him to sign up until Dons manager David Halliday travelled from Aberdeen to pay the family a visit in 1938. War delayed his chance to play for the first team and he went to France with the Royal Army Medical Corps in 1939, aged 20.
Mr Baird was captured by the Germans near Tobruk in North Africa in 1942. He and other PoWs were moved around camps but they used football as a morale-booster and he played for Scotland against Wales in one of the camps. He was eventually moved to Rimini in Italy and escaped in September 1943. His time with an Italian family who sheltered him from the Germans sparked a lifelong love of the country.
Mr Baird returned to Scotland in 1945 and started playing for the Dons.
One of his most memorable moments came on May 11, 1946, in the Southern League Cup final against Rangers at Hampden in front of 135,000 fans. Baird scored the opening goal after just 90 seconds in the 3-2 win for the Dons.
He was also capped by Scotland and played against Belgium in 1946.
He played in the Scottish League Cup final again the following year but the team was beaten 4-0 by Rangers.
He then went to play in the Scottish Cup final that year, when they beat Hibs 2-1.
In 1953 he moved on to St Johnstone and he retired after three seasons, in 1956.
He started working for the Daily Express on the north-east beat and then started coaching children in schools.
Mr Baird went to Aberdeen’s Rosemount School where he taught PE and trained the athletics team. He stayed there for 23 years and also trained the Aberdeen Primary Schools select.
Mr Baird, who lived in Birchfield Place, Cove, moved on to the city’s Summerhill Academy and then Hilton until he retired as assistant head in 1979.
He taught English in Italy for a year and returned to Aberdeen in 1981, where he remained a well-known figure delivering talks at Rotary Club meetings and other groups and working as a columnist.