Jock Davie’s total of 120 goals for the Albion in first-team competitions puts him third on the club’s all-time list. Although 62 were scored in the peculiar conditions of wartime, it nevertheless demonstrates the scoring-power of the beefy Scot, and he holds the record, along with Tommy Cook, for the most hat-tricks: eight. He led his line in dashing style and was known to complain bitterly if the ball wasn’t played to him in the manner which he preferred.
Jock’s arrival at the Goldstone in May 1936 was preceded by spells with Hibernian, Dundee (trial), Torquay United (trial), and at Margate where, during a six-month stay, he reputedly scored 50 goals in all matches as the Kent club carried off the Southern League title in 1935-36. The 23-year-old centre-forward continued his feats in Sussex and was most unfortunate that his best years coincided with the war. He was particularly prolific in the F.A. Cup, in which he netted eighteen goals in fourteen games; they included one four-goal haul and two hat-tricks.
When war broke out in 1939, Jock enlisted with the Police Reserve Force and was later an Army P.T. instructor, reaching the rank of sergeant. One of the most prolific guest players in the country, he appeared for no fewer than nineteen other clubs, and scored a hat-trick against the Albion in August 1941 while playing for Queen’s Park Rangers.
In August 1946, at the resumption of peacetime football, 33-year-old Jock was released to join Stockton in the North Eastern League, but he returned to the Football League in December 1946 for a brief spell with Barnsley before finishing his career with Kidderminster Harriers.
Jock played 191 matches for the Seagulls between 1936 and 1946 scoring 120 goals.