RANGERS legend Sammy Cox has died at the age of 91 after a short illness. Cox played 370 games for the club and won three league titles, three Scottish Cups and one League Cup during a glittering Ibrox career. He was part of the famous side that became the first in Scotland to win a treble in season 1948-49.
Born in April 1924, Cox began his playing career during the Second World War. He turned out for Queen’s Park, Third Lanark and Dundee, then following the end of the conflict joined Rangers in 1946 in time for the return of league football.
A full-back who could also play at wing-half, he made his debut in the autumn of that year and turned out 13 times in all that season as the Ibrox club went on to win the title. The following season he turned out far more regularly as Rangers just failed to retain the championship but won the Scottish Cup.
Season 1948-49 was the high point of Cox’s decade at Ibrox, and remains one of the most celebrated campaigns in Rangers’ history as they became the first club to win the treble. Cox played in all but one of the club’s games as they pipped Hibernian for the title by a single point, beat Clyde 4-1 in the Scottish Cup final and defeated Raith Rovers 2-0 in the League Cup final.
The following season was less successful - but only just, as Rangers held on to the league and Scottish Cup. After a couple of fallow years, they clinched another double in 1952-53, and Cox was again one of their most regular and reliable performers.
He left Rangers for for East Fife in 1956, and spent two seasons at Methil them emigrated to Canada, where he graduated from playing to being a player-coach. On retirement he settled in Stratford, a town in Ontario.
First capped for Scotland in 1948 in a 3-0 defeat by France, Cox accumulated 25 caps in an international career that went on until 1954. He also made more than a dozen appearances for the Scottish League.
Rangers director John Gilligan said: "On behalf of the directors, management team, players and staff, I would like to send our sincere condolences to Sammy's family and to his many friends in the North American Rangers Supporters Association at this very sad time."
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