Billy Williamson Rangers player whose place is assured in Ibrox folklore

That same season, Billy played in the famous 2-2 draw with Dinamo Moscow at Ibrox before 95,000 spectators.

The following season - 1947 - he netted in the inaugural Scottish League Cup final when Aberdeen were overwhelmed 4-0.

His place in Ibrox lore was assured in the Scottish Cup finals of 1948 and 1949 when he scored in both Rangers' triumphs over Morton and Clyde, the first two Scottish cup ties he had played for the club.

When the 1948 final ended in a 1-1 draw before 131,975 spectators, Williamson replaced Willie Findlay for the Wednesday replay, a game which attracted a staggering 133,750 crowd - a British record attendance for a midweek match. The two teams could not be separated, and as extra-time neared its end, with dusk falling in the days before floodlights, the only goal of the game arrived in 116 minutes when thoughts were turning to the near-certain prospect of a third match in the cup final for the first time since 1910.

The goal (scored at Hampden's King's Park end) remains forever in the mind's eye of those present: Torry Gillick's long pass to Eddie Rutherford wide on the left, the cross being met with a salmon leap by the forehead of the onrushing Billy Williamson to send the ball into the top corner of the net before Morton goalkeeper Jimmy Cowan could move.

Although the legendary Scotland keeper would later claim that he was blinded by the photographer's flashbulbs in the gathering gloom, it was the goalscorer, who was facing directly into the camera lenses.

The following season, the man nicknamed Sailor did not play during the entire Scottish Cup campaign until called in to face Clyde in the final. Once again he found the net with a header, this time from a Willie Waddell cross.

Rangers' 4-1 win ensured that Williamson had a unique record: two Scottish Cup ties, two goals, two winners' medals. Seventy-five goals in 144 games produced two league championship, two Scottish Cups, one League Cup, one Glasgow Cup and two Charity Cup-winners' medals during his time at Ibrox.

A thorough gentleman both on and off the field of play, Williamson may have introduced the concept of stopping play when an opponent lay injured. During a League Cup semi-final against East Fife at Hampden in season 1949-50 when, with his team trailing late in the proceedings, he deliberately kicked the ball into touch to allow treatment to his stricken foe. His sportsmanship is still remembered, although the practice was not regularly accepted for another 37 years.

He spent two years with St Mirren before moving on to Stirling Albion, memorably playing in their only competitive win over Rangers, a 2-0 league success on September 26, 1953. He had also guested for Manchester City while a PE instructor with the Royal Navy during the Second World War, but he remained a lifelong Rangers fan and a shareholder in the club.

When his playing career was over, he coached at Queen's Park and returned to his old school, Lenzie Academy, as a PE teacher, becoming head of PE for boys, while his wife, Mary, was head of PE for girls.

Billy Williamson was, above all else, a keen sportsman. He was a life member of the Scottish Schools Athletics Association, convener of the Scottish Schools Cross-Country Championship, an office bearer in the Scottish Schools Rugby Association, a member of Lenzie golf and rugby clubs, (with a golf handicap of three) and active in curling and orienteering, the other sports in which he was an active participant.

Billy Williamson is survived by his wife, Mary; son, Scott; and daughter, Elizabeth.