Ex-Celtic supremo Fergus McCann is back on course

A notable former junior champion enjoyed a stroll down memory lane when he paid a nostalaigic visit to Kilsyth Lennox Golf Club recently.
Fergus McCann back at Kilsyth Lennox Golf ClubFergus McCann back at Kilsyth Lennox Golf Club
Fergus McCann back at Kilsyth Lennox Golf Club

Former Celtic supremo Fergus McCann was back in Scotland for a holiday and took the opportunity to relive a boyhood achievement of almost 60 years previously.

The Canadian-based businessman, who saved Celtic from the brink of closure when he took over the club in 1994, wrote to the club in advance of his trip to arrange a game.

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They were only too happy to oblige and Fergus - minus his legendary bunnet - thoroughly enojoyed his afternoon on his ‘home’ course.

In his booking request to the club Fergus revealed how he had enjoyed early sporting success as a teenager at Kilsyth Lennox.

He said; “It may be of interest that I was a junior season ticket holder in the mid 1950s, at which time my annual fee was fifteen shillings for the then nine hole course. I have not been there since then.

“Indeed I believe I was its first junior champion, at age 16 in 1957, for which I won two silver spoons, along with a box of six Dunlop 65 golf balls - a value of over two pounds at the time.

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“I still have the spoons, but the valuable balls are long gone.

“I tell you this because I note from your website that all records were lost in a fire in 1992.

“Memories of my teenage time there are good. I recall Jimmy Heeps, the greenkeeper, Bob Paterson, a member who ‘turned pro’ at an advanced age, David Rankin - a good player - Jim McMorran, and of course James Turnbull who we boys referred to as ‘The Wit’.

“But not of the ‘Clubhouse’ which had no running water.”

Fergus spent five years at Celtic Park after acquiring a controlling interest in the club with it on the verge of bankruptcy and placed the club on a sound financial footing as well as overseeing the redevelopment of the stadium.

In 1999 he fulfilled a promise that he would only stay for five years by selling his shares.

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