Daniel Dawson was born on June 26, 1912 in Larkhall, Scotland. Danny was an early star in local soccer. His play for Larkhall Thistle impressed Glasgow Celtic so much that they signed him in June 1932.

The right half made his debut for Celtic on September 30, 1933, in a 3-1 against Queen’s Park in the Scottish League First Division. Danny played in four league games during the 1933-34 season.

Danny played in eight league games in the 1934-35 season. However, he injured his knee in a Scottish Cup game against Partick Thistle in February 1935. Due to his injury he failed to make any league appearances in the 1935-36 season.

He made a return to the Glasgow Celtic first team in September 1936 and played in six league games and scored two goals in the 1936-37 season. In December 1936 he asked to be placed on the transfer list.

After spending the 1937-38 season without making any league appearances for Celtic he moved to Queen of the South before the start of the 1938-39 season. Mostly playing at outside right Danny played in 32 league and scored nine league goals in the Scottish First Division.

When war broke out in Europe the Scottish League stopped to operate. Queen of the South spent the rest of the 1939-40 season playing in the Western League. Danny spent the 1940-41 season on loan at Hamilton Academicals. From May 1941 he had a short spell with Third Lanark.

While being a merchant sailor during the war he signed for Bronx Scots in the Metropolitan League in New York in the September 1944.

On June 7 1945 Danny signed for the King Edward club in the Ontario Major Soccer League. He made his debut for King Edward against Hamilton Stelco on June 9 at Oakwood Stadium. Danny scored the first goal for the Eddies in their 4-0 win over Stelco.

In its report of the game the Toronto Star wrote in its headline on June 11 “Dawson Stars” and followed up with the text “this chap Dawson was feeding Woodward on the left and McQueston on the right wing with long sweeping low passes that were a sight to see”.

They followed up the next day with “Danny is probably the best packet of soccer dynamite to reach Canada from Scotland in the last 20 years. He has everything, color, looks and ability”.

“In his first match in Toronto he scored the first goal, had a penalty given against him and shone from start to finish”.

In the next game King Edward met John Inglis at Oakwood Stadium in front of a $300 gate on June 13. Danny missed a penalty and John Inglis won 1-0.

On August 16 Danny scored on a penalty kick to help Eddies to a 1-1 tie with Ulster United. He scored another goal in a 3-3 tie with Hamilton Stelcos on August 29.

On the first weekend of September 1945, the King Edward club went on a trip to Chicago to play in two exhibition games. In the first match King Edwards defeated the Chicago South Side All-Stars 4-2 in front of 2,500 fans at Sparta Stadium. Danny played was King Edward’s right half.

The following day the King Edward team defeated Chicago North Side All-Stars 6-0 in front of a crowd 3,000 at Winnemac Park stadium. Danny set up the second goal by finding an opening for Amos Woodward. He also scored King Edward’s fifth goal.

Danny’s clever play impressed the Chicago soccerites so much that he was signed by the Chicago Vikings on September 7. The Vikings went on to win the 1946 United States National Challenge Cup finals by beating Ponta Delgada from Fall River.

He later played for Brookhattan in the American Soccer League and Chicago Sparta.

Danny passed away in Chicago in December 1994.