Career
He was the first black player to play for Scottish club Celtic, and was the father of poet and musician Gil Scott-Heron. He died in Detroit of a heart attack on 27 November 2008. Born Gilbert Heron in Kingston, Jamaica, he came from a family of means.
He moved to Canada as a youth and was later enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force.
As well as being a track athlete and a boxer, he played football and broke through during his stay there. He was spotted by a scout from Glasgow Celtic while the club was on tour in North America, and he was signed by the Scottish club in 1951 after being invited over for a trial.
Heron only played five first-team matches in all, scoring twice. He was released by the club the next year after making one appearance in the Scottish Football League and joined Third Lanark where he played in seven League Cup matches, scoring five goals but did not appear in the League.
Next he went to English club Kidderminster Harriers before moving back to Detroit Corinthians.
At Celtic he earned the nicknames "The Black Arrow" and "The Black Flash". While in Chicago, Heron met Bobbie Scott, a singer, with whom he had a son in 1949, the poet and musician Gil Scott-Heron. They separated when Heron left for Scotland and did not meet again till Scott-Heron was 26.
Heron had three more children, Gayle, Denis and Kenny, who was killed in a drive-by shooting in Detroit.