December 25, 1875: The Death of Young Tom Morris

Young Tom Morris

December 25, 1875: It is not a merry Christmas in St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland. "Young Tom" Morris, an early golf legend, and the son of an early golf legend known as "Old Tom" Morris, dies there. He is only 24 years old. He had recently played a match in terrible weather, and probably caught pneumonia.

Old Tom Morris

Although it would be a Scotsman, Alexander Fleming, who discovered penicillin, it would be decades before it could have saved Young Tom, who had also recently lost his wife and child in childbirth, and, between his grief and his illness, may have lost the will to live.

Thomas Mitchell Morris, born in 1821 in St. Andrews, lived on until 1908, as "The Grand Old Man of Golf." His son, named only Thomas Morris, was born in 1851 in St. Andrews. That town, home of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, and the site of 30 British Opens (but never, through 2022, a Ryder Cup), is still "the Home of Golf," partly because of the legacy of the Tom Morrises.

NOTE: For a long time, with this project, I resisted putting in references to golf, because of the kind of people who tend to play it. I finally caved in, although I haven't included as many references as I would if it were a real sport, which it is not.

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December 25, 1875 was a Saturday. There were no American sports on this day: Although both football and basketball would come to be associated with Christmas Day, the former barely existed, and its last game of the season was played on December 4; and the latter wasn't even invented for another 16 years.

But there was soccer in Britain, including in the Morrises' native Scotland. The 1st Edinburgh Derby is played at a park known as The Meadows. Heart of Midlothian defeat Hibernian 1-0.

This is the oldest remaining senior "derby" in the world, older than the "Old Firm" in Glasgow, with similarities: Like Rangers, "Hearts" were founded as an all-Protestant side; while, like Celtic, "Hibs" ("Hibernia" was the Roman Empire's name for Ireland) were founded as a team for Catholic immigrants from Ireland. The colors are also similar: Like Celtic, Hibs wear green and white stripes; while Hearts wear blue, albeit a darker blue than Rangers.

In the modern era, the teams frequently play each other on the day after Christmas, Boxing Day, but not in the 1875 season.