That's surely a misprint re his age. I remember Ernie McGarr playing for Cowdenbeath in the very first season I watched football (77/78) and he'd been around a good while before that (East Fife, Pars, Aberdeen, possibly others). I'm sure he was at Airdrie the first time they were promoted to the Premier (79/80?) and he'd be older than 25 by then.
I'm sure I read somewhere that he still attends occasional games at East Fife and is by all accounts a really decent spud.