Dan McMichael Headstone Ceremony, Eastern Cemetery
11.30am, 7 December 2013
Dan McMichael played a key role in the early years of Hibernian Football Club, serving the club as manager, secretary and treasurer.
His triumphs as manager included the 1902/03 league title and, perhaps most famously, the 1902 Scottish Cup.
When Dan died in 1919 he was buried in Leith’s Eastern Cemetery, just a stone’s throw from Easter Road and the football club that he’d devoted his life to.
Although rightly remembered by many Hibs fans as a legend of the club, for almost 100 years Dan McMichael’s grave has remained unmarked.
Now, thanks to the fantastic efforts of the St Patrick’s Branch of The Hibs Club, a headstone is going to be unveiled paying a fitting and lasting tribute to this Hibs great.
Supported by donations from Hibs fans from across the world the headstone will be unveiled by Pat Stanton, a Hibernian great of a more recent vintage.
The St Patrick’s Branch would like to thanks all those Hibs fans who gave time and money to the fundraising effort – and invite all Hibs fans to the official unveiling ceremony at Easter Cemetery on Saturday 7th December at 11.30 am.
Rod Petrie will join Pat Stanton at the ceremony along with Mike Riley, Chairman of The Hibs Club.
Dan McMichael – Hibernian legend
Born in Ireland, Dan McMichael arrived in Edinburgh via Coatbridge.
His devotion to Hibs began when he was part of the group of men who saved the club from oblivion in the early 1890s.
As secretary-manager of the club McMichael won the Scottish Cup and the league title. He also took responsibility for ticket sales, player transfers and, as one journalist was bemused to discover, painting the stand.
Somehow he also found time to build a side that, in 1902, was described as “the most attractive team in Scotland.”
Handing over to Phil Kelso in 1903, McMichael returned in 1904 and would lead Hibs until his death in 1919.
He was apparently “never known to have spoken harshly or ungenerously to a living soul.”
The architect of some of our greatest successes, Hibs would arguably not exist without the devotion of McMichael in the 1890s and during the difficult years before and during the First World War.
The Hibs Club would like to congratulate the St Patrick’s Branch for their fundraising efforts and encourage as many Hibs fans as possible to attend the ceremony on 7 December.
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