Gil Heron

Gilbert St. Elmo 'Gil' Heron (born 1922) was a Jamaican footballer. He was the first black player to play for Celtic.

A centre forward, Heron was born in Kingston, moved to Canada as a youth and was later enlisted in the Canadian Air Force, where his footballing talent first shone. After that he signed for American club Detroit Corinthians, and was spotted by a scout from Celtic, while Celtic were on a North American tour; he was later signed up by the Scottish club in 1949. Heron went on to score on his debut, but only played three first-team matches in all. He was released by the club the next year and joined Third Lanark, and then English club Kidderminster Harriers before moving back to Detroit Corinthians.

Before his move to the UK, Gil Heron had been the top goalscorer in the 1946 season of the North American Professional Soccer League, playing for the champion Detroit Wolverines. [http://nas.americakicks.com/archive/2005/msg07249.html] .

Gil Heron is the father of poet and musician Gil Scott-Heron, known primarily for his late 1960s and early 1970s work as a spoken word performer, and his association with African American militant activism.Fact|date=May 2007 Gil Scott-Heron is considered one of the "founding fathers" of rap music.