SCOTTISH football today paid tribute to veteran sports writer and broadcaster Bob Crampsey, who has died at 78 after battling Parkinson's disease.

SCOTTISH football today paid tribute to veteran sports writer and broadcaster Bob Crampsey, who has died at 78 after battling Parkinson's disease.

The Glasgow man famous for his encyclopaedic knowledge of the game worked on TV and radio and built up a loyal following with his popular Now You Know column in the Evening Times.

Football greats, academics, politicians and broadcasters today all spoke of their admiration for Bob, who first made national headlines when he won the Brain of Britain quiz in 1965.

Times File

BOB CRAMPSEY was not your average man. He multi-tasked and did it with incredible ease, from the role of broadcaster to after-dinner speaker from school teacher to television quiz champion.
  • Born in 1930 in the shadow of Hampden Park.
  • In 1938, at the tender age of seven, he persuades his mother to allow him to go along to watch the Scottish Cup final between East Fife and Kilmarnock.
  • In 1951 he graduates from Glasgow University with an honours degree in history.
  • During the 1950s he spends three years in the RAF before taking up teacher training.
  • In 1957 he begins his broadcasting career at Scottish Television by teaming up with the legendary Arthur Montford on the Scotsport football programme.
  • In 1965 Bob woos radio listeners when he wins the BBC's Brain of Britain quiz.
  • Joins the Evening Times in 1972 with the launch of his Now You Know column.
  • During the 1970s he makes the semi-finals of television's Mastermind while at the same time joining Radio Clyde.
  • In 1986, Bob's teaching career ends on a high when he retires as head teacher of St Ambrose High in Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire.
  • In 1987 Bob switches from Radio Clyde to join the Sportsound team at BBC Radio Scotland.
  • In 2001 he quit the airwaves.
  • He is named in a survey in 2002 as one of Scotland's 50 brightest people.
  • Bob stops writing for the Evening Times in 2006 after creating journalistic history. Now You Know had by then become the world's long-running newspaper sports column.
  • Bob Crampsey dies on Sunday, July 27, 2008.

Celtic legend Billy McNeill said: "Bob was raised just a goal kick from the old Cathkin Park and he was an authority on Third Lanark. But he was also very knowledgeable on every aspect of the game and even wrote a biography of Jock Stein.

"As another new season kicks off in Scotland, there is no doubt he'll be sadly missed."

Broadcaster Archie Macpherson said: "What Bob did was bring his great intelligence to football reporting. He was extremely articulate and a very good after-dinner speaker.

"Above all, he was a great man to sit next to in a press box. He will be sadly missed."

Pundit Chick Young - a former Evening Times sportswriter - said he was "devastated".

He added: "I adored him. But it's a national disgrace that those who hand out the honours did not give him the recognition he deserved."

Sunday Herald columnist Tom Shields was taught by Bob in his early days as a school teacher.

Tom said: "It is a tribute to Bob Crampsey's stamina and work ethic that he managed a career as a broadcaster and writer in tandem with a devotion and unstinting commitment to his day job as a teacher."

Gordon Smith, who quit broadcasting when appointed chief executive of the SFA, said: "I am so sad to hear about the death of Bob. I thoroughly enjoyed working with him and I had enormous respect for him as a man and a magnificent authority on the game of football."

Veteran broadcaster Arthur Montford shared the Scotsport TV studio with Bob during more than 1000 shows.

He said: "Bob was a character in many different ways. Of the original Scotsport team he was by far the most knowledgeable.

"He was a lifelong Queen's Park supporter after growing up in the shadow of Hampden."

Richard Gordon, anchor of BBC Scotland's Sportsound, worked with Bob and said: "He was a genius and a joy to work with."

First Minister Alex Salmond said Bob was an "extraordinary man" and added: "He was a legend in broadcasting and Scottish football. He had an encyclopaedic, unrivalled knowledge of the game."

Evening Times editor Donald Martin said: "Bob Crampsey was an extraordinary journalist and broadcaster. His knowledge of sport was unsurpassed and earned him a legion of fans.

"His enthusiasm for his subject helped make his Now You Know column the longest running sports column in the world.

"He will be sadly missed by his many friends in the worlds of sport, journalism and broadcasting."