He was dubbed 'The Duke' for his sharp dress sense, with a style of play to match, and captained Hibs during one of their more successful eras. But during a time when supporters were dazzled by the Famous Five, perhaps John Grant didn't get the credit he deserved. 

The versatile defender not only shared a dressing room and a pitch with Smith, Johnstone, Reilly, Turnbull, and Ormond, he was also team-mates with Ronnie Simpson, Tommy Younger, Tommy Preston, Joe Baker, Bobby Combe, Neil Martin, Pat Stanton, Peter Cormack, and Jimmy O'Rourke among others. 

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Grant played 297 games, scoring twice six years apart - once from the penalty spot in a 3-2 win against East Fife in December 1957 and again in a 4-1 victory over St Johnstone in October 1963 - and featured in the record 15-1 victory over Peebles Rovers in the Scottish Cup in February 1961; the incredible 4-4 draw with Barcelona in the Fairs Cup in December 1960, and the European Champions Cup semi-final against Stade de Reims of France, during which he marked the legendary Raymond Kopa out of the game. 

On top of that he was in the team that defeated Airdrieonians 11-1 in October 1959 and Partick Thistle 10-2 just two months later, as well as participating in a 5-5 draw with Clyde in January 1960. He faced Belenenses, Copenhagen, Red Star Belgrade, Roma, Utrecht, and Valencia in European matches. 

Grant made his name as a solid, uncompromising, and dependable full-back - but he might not even have been playing at Easter Road, never mind in defence. A boyhood Hibs fan from his days as a pupil at Darroch Secondary School, he showed an aptitude for the game and represented the Edinburgh Schools XI while playing for Colinton Mains United. It was when he made the move to crack juvenile side Merchiston Thistle that his performances began to attract attention.

Writing in a football magazine during the 1958/59 season, as he approached ten years on Hibs' books, Grant recalled: "At Merchiston Thistle I played alongside Jimmy Murray, who is now with Hearts and is a Scottish internationalist and as an inside forward, I helped the Thistle to win many trophies. Then I got a chance to sign for Hibernian.

"But before I went to Easter Road there was a queue of clubs chasing me and, to be quite honest, I wasn't keen to join Hibs. While I was with Merchiston we were invited to Ashington, in Northumberland, to play in a friendly match. A Manchester City scout saw the game and, later on, when a club outing took us to Newcastle to watch a First Division match between Newcastle and Manchester City, I was approached by the City manager, Mr Les McDowall.

"He offered me the chance to join the English club, but I wanted time to consider. By then I was following my trade as a joiner and wasn't anxious to go south of the border. Then Wolves came after me. So did Rangers, Hearts and Falkirk. It was almost arranged for me to go to Wolverhampton when Hibs made an offer I could not turn down. 

"I'd previously shied away from Easter Road advances because I wanted to go to a club that would give me the best chance and at that time, I wasn't sure I'd get it with Hibs. But when they approached me a second time I had no doubts and became a part-time professional."

The year was 1949. Grant was 17, and signed as an inside forward. But given the strength of the Hibs team at that time, and their second XI, their new acquisition took his first steps in green and white in the East of Scotland League, turning out for the club's third team. Somewhat confusingly dubbed Hibernian 'B', they were regular title winners.

While he was representing the 'B' team, Grant was also on occasion called into the second XI and by 1952 he was, by his own admission, 'beginning to break into reserve football'. 

When he was called up for national service alongside club colleague Younger, he played for the British Army of the Rhine (B.A.O.R.) team in Germany alongside Alan Finney of Sheffield Wednesday and future Wales internationalist Mel Charles of Swansea Town. 

"At this stage, I was being tried at right-half, but when demobbed I started in Hibs' reserve team as a centre-half. In 1955 I got into the first team - at right-half. My first game was against St  Mirren, at Easter Road. For the first 45 minutes I didn't know where I was, so much was I out of my depth. After half time I pulled myself together and had a pretty fair game - apart from splitting an eyebrow."

Hibs were 2-1 victors over the Buddies, Lawrie Reilly cancelling out Brian Callan's early opener for the visitors before Bobby Combe scored the winner. Playing alongside Grant that day were Younger, Pat Ward, Jock Paterson, Jackie Plenderleith, John Fraser, Bobby Johnstone, Tommy Preston, Willie Ormond, Combe, and Reilly. 

Grant would go on to hold down a regular place at wing-half, and made 15 appearances in all competitions. But having started out as an inside forward before being moved back to right-half and wing-half, he was shifted again - this time to centre-half.

"I was getting a bit bewildered by the change of positions, but I had a really outstanding game in the European Cup semi-final against Reims. My immediate opponent was the fabulous Raymond Kopa and, by all accounts, I played him out of it. What worried me was the fact that I had yet to discover my real position."

Having been at the club but not part of the first-team squad when they won league titles in 1951 and 1952, Grant was deeply unlucky in 1958 when  Hibs were defeated by Clyde in the Scottish Cup final, robbing him of the chance to finally win major silverware with his boyhood club - while playing in a new position, of course. 

"At the start of the 1957/58 season, the manager Mr Hugh Shaw decided to convert me to a full-back, as the club needed a new defender. As soon as I played there I felt happier. One of the reasons was the fine prompting I got from Eddie Turnbull, who was really a wonderful inspiration to me."

Despite the Famous Five's influence waning as age caught up with them, Turnbull's influence helped shape Grant and the two became close as Grant took the armband from his elder team-mate. 

"I was a regular all season and was being tipped for a Scottish League cap, but it was a great disappointment to reach the Scottish Cup Final and then lose to a team which I thought were not as good as some of the opposition we had defeated on the way to Hampden. I still feel that the injury to Andy Aitken upset our attack so much that it had a lot to do with Clyde winning."

Grant would go on to make 202 further appearances for Hibs, playing under Shaw's successor Walter Galbraith and earning two caps for Scotland in the 1958/59 British Home Championship against Ireland and Wales, and six caps for the Scottish League XI, playing against an English Football League XI on one occasion - a 1-1 draw at Ibrox, in which Turnbull also played; an Irish League XI twice, and a League of Ireland XI three times. 

He was released by Jock Stein, who took over from Galbraith, in 1964, at which point he spent a season with Raith Rovers before retiring. 

Football teams always have and always will, need unsung heroes and while Grant might not have had the panache or filmstar appeal or goals of some of his team-mates, he was the archetypal seven-out-of-ten-each-week player that we still see in the 21st century. 

It could all have been very different. What if Grant hadn't been versatile enough to be played in so many different positions? What if he'd said yes to Manchester City, or Wolves, or even Hearts? 

In his own words: "I've had some great times with Hibs. I've been to France, Switzerland, Germany and Holland and after nearly nine years, I can truthfully say that they're a fine club."