His greatest comeback … from the tuberculosis that almost killed him

Stevie Chalmers, the scorer of Celtic’s most important goal, had a gift for upsetting the odds. Chalmers completed the comeback as 11 men from within a 30-mile radius of Glasgow beat favourites Inter Milan 2-1 to win the European Cup in 1967.

But he won his biggest battle more than a decade earlier after contracting tuberculosis meningitis aged 20 and given just weeks to live.

His survival was hailed as a “triumph of modern medicine” and he went on to fulfil his dream of playing for Celtic, scoring 231 goals and winning 15 trophies.

Born Thomas Stephen Chalmers on Boxing Day 1935, the youngest of five siblings was introduced to football during his early years in Glasgow’s east end.

Chalmers would head the ball against the wall of an air-raid shelter and practise with his father, David, a factory worker who formerly played for Clydebank alongside Celtic’s record goalscorer, Jimmy Mcgrory.

He left school aged 14 and worked in a tool shop and furniture warehouse, but his goal was to become a footballer.

He played for Kirkintilloch Rob Roy and featured in FA Cup preliminary rounds for Newmarket Town during national service at RAF Stradishall, but fell seriously ill following his return to Glasgow. Tuberculosis bacteria had entered the fluid surrounding his brain and spinal cord.

Chalmers spent six months in Belvidere Hospital, next to Celtic Park, but found a saviour in Peter Mckenzie, who pioneered the treatment of draining spinal fluid.

Dr Mckenzie later told Chalmers he was the first of his patients to get out alive and presented the case as a “triumph of modern medicine” during conferences in North America.

Speaking to The Scotsman in 2012, Chalmers recalled his treatment. “I didn’t know what it was, or what it meant for me,” he admitted.

“I was getting lumbar punctures; kneeling on the bed, a nurse holding me in position while a doctor went in with his syringe,” he recalls.

“Boy, that was tough, although in the early days I still didn’t think my condition was tooserious.theninoticedhow my fellow patients kept disappearing. The curtains would be dragged right round their beds before they were wheeled

“In the early days I still didn’t think my condition was too serious. Then I noticed how my fellow patients kept disappearing”

away. I wasn’t allowed to do very much which for a young sportsman was hard.

“When no one was looking I’d drop my legs over the side of the bed to try and get them moving. I’d like to think my good health and fitness helped me.

“I know that Dr Peter Mckenzie helped me. He was the head consultant at the Belvidere and after I’d made a full recovery he let me see a film he’d made of my treatment which he was going to show round Canada and the United States.

“He told me that no one with tuberculosis meningitis had been walking out of the hospital alive.

“I suppose I was his star patient.”