James Crawford is perhaps unfortunate in that his career at Queen's Park is overlapped and overshadowed for a large part by the legendary J.B. McAlpine, but without a doubt he was an integral part of the team for over a decade, and his career record is comparable to the finest servants of the club.

Having twice been capped as a schoolboy against England, he joined Queen's in 1921, making his debut in November 1922, and scored his first goal on his third appearance for the club, against East Stirling in a 2-1 victory at Hampden, and after his debut he was ever present for the rest of the season, scoring a total of three times in 25 appearances as Queen's won the Second Division.

He was one of the fastest men in the country, and was the joint holder of the Scottish 100 yard record, with a time of 10 seconds recorded at Hampden in 1926.

His finest hour in a black and white jersey probably came in December 1928, when Aberdeen visited Hampden in a first division match and were humbled by six goals to two, with three of the Queen's goals coming from Crawford.

Crawford ended the season with 16 goals as Queen's netted 100 times in their 38 games, and finished fifth in the first division, the club's highest ever placing in the Scottish League.  

He also took part in the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, one of four Spiders (Gardiner, Kyle and Dodds were the others) who took part in those infamous games.

As well as his schoolboy appearances for Scotland, he also gained five full international caps; in 1932 against Ireland and France, and in 1933 against England, Wales and Ireland, as well as three appearances representing the Scottish League, all against the Irish League, in 1932, 1933 & 1936.

During the war he served with the RAF as a Flight Lieutenant at Prestwick Airport, dealing with flights to and from North America. 

Bob Crampsey summed up Crawford's career thus: "There were more subtle wingers than Crawford, who was not especially renowned for ball control or distribution. He was possessed of a truly blistering pace, without which success on the wing is scarcely possible and he had the other essential attributes of keenness and a fierce shot. By representing Britain in Berlin, he had taken the highest honour open to an amateur; he had known what it was to walk off Hampden with the roar of a crowd for the victorious full Scottish side against England ringing in his ears."   

His career finished at the end of 1936/37 season with a total of 449 league appearances for Queen's, as well as 60 cup appearances, with 130 goals to his credit, making him without doubt one of the finest servants to the club in its long history.