5'11.5" 12st.5lb.
b. Cullercoats 4  December 1890
d. Cullercoats February 1974
 

Debut  28 February 1914 (23y 61d) Final Game 2 April 1923 (32y 119d)
First Goal 21 March 1914 Final Goal 30 December 1922
CAREER: Cullercoats School;Whitley Athletic Sum’08;North Shields Sum’09;Heart of Midlothian Jan'11[80-65];Blackburn Rovers Feb'14-May'23 (£2,400);Preston Colliery Aug'23-May'24;Barrow'23-'24[4].
WAR TIME INTERNATIONALS Scotland 1 app '16 v Eng.
HONOURS FL Ch '14 (Blackburn Rovers)
 

FL        140 apps  71 gls  4g 1 3g 1
FAC       11 apps   2 gls
Total   151 apps  73 gls
Penalty record  T 1 Sc 1
Strike record  186 mins
LC          1 app
War time
L           3 apps    3 gls
SC         1 app

The final piece in the carefully constructed jigsaw  that was designed to establish the Rovers supremacy in football he arrived in time to share in the 1914 championship victory. One of the best centre forwards the club had possessed  he was mobile, brave and strong and a proven goal scorer. He was born in the north-east and scored 30 goals in his  first season with Whitley Athletic and  50 in his next season and a half  seasons at North Shields. When he moved to higher grade football with Hearts he scored ninety goals in three seasons,  24 of them in the 23 games before he joined the Rovers. With the proceeds of the sale Hearts constructed a new stand that was always  known as the Dawson stand. The war ruined a great career although when he returned there was  still  ample evidence of how great player he was. He returned to the north-east and entered the licensed trade in which he remained until he retired. His father was a railway ticket collector who was originally  from Allendale Town. His great grandson, Steve Sparks, was a top class rugby union prop forward who was included in the Scottish international squad in 2006.