Celtic Soccer Legend Charlie Shaw Honored at Madonna Cemetery Ceremony

The Celtic Graves Society gathered family, friends and fans of the Glasgow Celtics Saturday to pay tribute to one of the team's finest players, Charlie Shaw, who lies buried at Madonna Cemetery in Fort Lee.

Organized with the help of Celtic Club member, and retired Fort Lee Police Chief, Thomas Tessaro, the Scottish ceremony came alive with memory and tradition beneath the cover of a cloudless sky on the lower hills of Madonna cemetery as a bagpiper played in the distance.

The simplicity of both the headstone and the language carved upon it belies the fact that beneath the marker lies a man of great sportsmanship and accomplishment. An expert goalie who played in the 1925 World Soccer Cup, Shaw had an unprecedented 444 appearances with 236 shutouts as a Celtic. He stands as a legend in the team's history.

Born in Twechar, Scotland, a village nestled below the Campsie Hills in 1885, Shaw was 27-years old in 1913 when he first began his career as goalie for the Glasgow Celtics. Shaw did not just step onto the field without paying his dues. He started by keeping the goal for local teams Baillieston Thistle and Kirkintilloch Harp until he was picked up by Port Glasgow Athletic when he was 21.   

Celtic manager Willie Maley wrote of Shaw:

He was what I term a great goalkeeper. He was not big, only five feet six inches, but strong, well set...as agile as a cat and fearless as a lion defending his cubs. Shaw had ways and wiles of his own...He took risks which would have scared a tamer of wild elephants.

In the days when 'charging the goalkeeper' was still permissable making injury nearly unavoidable, Charlie played 200 Celtic first team games in succession from May 1913 to October 1918. Within that time period, Shaw went 66 consecutive matches unbeaten from December 1915 to April 1917.

In his first season, Shaw saw the team win back the League title. Shaw and the Cletics won four Scottish Division One titles in succession from 1914 to 1917. World War One halted the Scottish Cup and it was not until 1923 that Shaw was able to hold the trophy again.

Shaw's professional career as goalkeeper for the Celtics ended in 1925, after twelve years, at the age of 40 years old.

Upon stepping off the field, Charlie followed in the footsteps of some former teammates and, in June 1925, crossed the Atlantic to manage the New Bedford Connecticut Whalers where they came in second in the American Soccer League.

According to Shaw's relatives, field conditions in New Bedford were not good and he moved to New York where he coached the Metropolitan League.

It was said at the graveside ceremony that Shaw had predicted that soccer would not take off in the United States until the schools introduced it as a sport.

Monsignor Peter Smith, parish priest from St. Mary's in Glasgow and current diplomatic attache to the Holy See at the Vatican, said, "Anyone who left Scotland, Ireland and England may have left their countries, but Celtic has never left us. Despite the sport, when you're not playing as a Celtic, you are still a Celtic." 

Brian Wilson, author of Celtic: A Century with Honor, said that Saturday's graveside ceremony for Shaw was "deeply important" as a way of not only honoring a champion goalkeeper and coach, but as a way of keeping the identity and history of the club alive.

"If we lose history, we lose the tradition and connection to our Celtic Club past and present," Wilson said. "We need to remind one generation after another of the old Celtic names and legends and keep tradition alive with the memories of those that came before us."

Shaw died in March 1938 at the age of 52 years old in New York City and was buried in Madonna Cemetery. He left behind his wife Annie and seven children.

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