Happy Birthday Dixie Dean

Today marks what would have been Everton legend Dixie Dean's 117th birthday.

William Ralph "Dixie" Dean was an English footballer who played for Notts County, Hurst, Tranmere Rovers, but most importantly, and where he strived, Everton FC.

Dixie Dean was born on January 22, 1907, in the area of Birkenhead, which is local to Everton's Goodison Park and Tranmere Rover's stadium, Prenton Park.

My name, Calum Jones, is, in fact, not my full name. It is Calum Dixie Jones. My family decided to use his name as my middle name due to the legendary status Dixie Dean has left among Evertonians for centuries.

For Everton, Dean scored 383 goals in 433 appearances, including 37 hat-tricks. In the 1930s, he led the club to a treble of trophies, which included the Second Division, First Division, and FA Cup.

Dean was a goal scorer and has the most goals in one singular season in English football. In the 1927–28 season, Dixie Dean scored 60 goals during this time. This record will never be broken again, but there have been some close calls with Erling Haaland, the Manchester City striker, who managed to claim 52 goals across all competitions in his first season at the club. Haaland was the highest-scoring player in the Premier League that year.

Here is what some former players had to say about Dixie:

• "HE BELONGS TO THE COMPANY OF THE EXTREMELY GREAT... LIKE BEETHOVEN, SHAKESPEARE, AND REMBRANDT"—BILL SHANKLY

• "When Dixie went up for the ball, he was almost unstoppable." Sir Matt Busby

Dixie Dean will always be in the history books for Everton and English football.

He retired from football in April 1941 and spent his time helping to run a pub called the Dublin Packet in Chester.

35 years later, Dean had to get his right leg amputated due to a blood clot in that area, and this was where his health worsened. He ended up homebound, and on March 1st, 1980, he passed away at his home in Liverpool while watching the Merseyside Derby at the age of 73.