HOWZAT

“My dad always looks for the Celtic results,” he said, before acknowledging the unique quality in the Scots that puts such a pride in “music and football”. He feels a powerful bond with Scotland to this day — the Edinburgh company Canongate publish his novels, The Vulture and The Nigger Factory. He is godparent to the children of Jamie Byng, Canongate’s founder.

The Jamaican-born Heron senior was playing for Detroit Corinthians when he was noticed by Celtic scouts during a North American tour in 1951. The centre forward was said to “exude all-round athleticism” excelling in boxing and sprinting as well as football.

During his year at Celtic, he was best known for what one contemporary described as “camera-shutter speed”. Off the park, he played cricket for Poloc and Ferguslie and stayed in a hotel in the centre of Glasgow. Sean Fallon, a team-mate, remembers him as a man about town who loved his music — spent a lot of time after training in the music section at Lewis's department store, listening to the latest American imports.

Heron senior never got used to the physically intimidating style of play in Scotland and was released at the end of the season. “I wouldn’t get the same thrill from another club,” he said, though he went on to Third Lanark and the English club Kidderminster Harriers before returning to Detroit where he published two books of poetry.

The second collection, published in 1993, contains a piece called The Great Ones and is a tribute to Celtic players of his day.

I spend an hour and a half talking to his son, who was once misunderstood to be a Rangers fan because he posed for a photoshoot wearing both Celtic and Rangers scarves. He says he has always supported Celtic. He comes across as someone of intelligence and wit, with a sense of grace.

He walked me to the subway to bid me on my way, and told me he was looking forward to May 23, because at that point he would be one year out of prison and his parole conditions would ease.

At this point I heard myself say something like: “I wish you the best.” Then, as an agnostic, I found myself saying: “I will say a prayer for you.” I meant it from the heart.

“Thank you,” he said quietly as we parted. Scott-Heron has that effect on people. A man who has given so many people hope, voice and pride. A man of quiet dignity.

Travelling on the subway, I reflected on the ways Gil Scott-Heron and Michael Marra, two creative forces brought together by the power of music and football, were, with all their differences, similar. Both are wiry and physically fragile. Both are self-deprecating men who can touch in their work on what it is to be human. Both are, in their way, Scottish spirits.

Gerry Hassan is a writer and broadcaster

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