Jimmy O'Rourke: Legendary Hibs forward and Turnbull Tornado dies aged 76

Hibs' Jimmy O'Rourke scored twice in the club's 1973 7-0 triumph over Hearts.

One of the club’s most revered players, O’Rourke was born in Edinburgh and raised as a Hibs fan in Clermiston, going on to play 325 times for his boyhood club and scoring 125 goals. Making his debut in December 1962 at the age of 16 years and 85 days, he became the club’s youngest-ever player at that time. He scored in Hibs’ 1972 League Cup triumph over Celtic and also in the Drybrough Cup victory against the same team, while also netting a brace in one of Hibs’ greatest wins, the 1973 New Year’s Day 7-0 win over capital rivals Hearts. He had a penchant for scoring on the big stage, netting a hat-trick in a European match against Sporting CP.

O’Rourke spent 12 years at Easter Road before moving St Johnstone in 1974. He spent two seasons at Muirton Park, scoring 23 goals in 68 games, before seeing out his playing career at Motherwell between 1976 and 1978. He returned to Easter Road to be assistant manager to Eddie Turnbull and was inducted into the Hibs hall of fame in 2012.

In an interview with Aidan Smith for The Scotsman in 2018, O’Rourke recalled: “When Hearts won the Scottish Cup in 1956 my mother took me over the back of Clerrie and down to Corstorphine Road to meet the open-top bus and acclaim the great Alex Young. I went turnabout to Easter Road and Tynecastle, everyone did in those days. Mr [Tommy] Walker [manager] had me in his office but I only ever wanted to play for the Hibs and thankfully I got to live the dream. You can mention that I cried on the slopes of Hampden in 1958 when Hibs lost the cup because that’s dead true.”

Hibs wrote on their website that O’Rourke was with his family in Edinburgh when he passed away on Tuesday, November 15.