The Greatest Team That Never Was

This is the story of the greatest American soccer team that never was.

US soccer was in its heyday in 1980. The North American Soccer League, the country’s major league, was in its most stable and prosperous time. And, soccer, in general, had made it in America. Everything looked rosy for the sport that had so long been more promise than reality.

The American Soccer League was no different. The older, smaller sibling of the NASL did not operate at the same level, but the league seemed ready to break out of its semi-pro shell. A few years earlier the ASL finally became a truly national league when it expanded to the west coast. And, in 1980, the league expanded into Arizona, a soccer community that even the NASL had yet to tap.

In late June of 1979, Leonard Lesser, a Phoenix insurance executive and president of Phoenix Professional Sports Inc., which included five unnamed associates, purchased the NASL Memphis Rogues for a reported $1.6 million plus $1 million in debts. The Phoenix investors hinted that, if the sale was approved by the league, the franchise would likely be moved to Phoenix.

A week later, Rogues owner Harry Mangurian, rejected the offer of the Phoenix group to buy the NASL franchise. While Mangurian refused to reveal the issue, a newspaper article at the time revealed that Phoenix Professional Sports had not been able to come up with the necessary cash deposit of $200,000 nor a “proper” profit and loss statement. Lesser, claiming that the Phoenix group had a net worth of about $100 million, disagreed that the sale was off and expected to pay a $650,000 security bond. The sale was never finalized.

Two months later, in September, Lesser’s Phoenix Professional Sports, Inc. acquired an expansion franchise for Phoenix in the ASL. The official announcement was made at the Phoenix Press Club with “retiring” ASL commissioner Bob Cousy and Phoenix mayor Margaret Hance on hand. The announced cost of an ASL franchise at that point was $250,000 and Lesser said that the team’s operating expenses would be over $500,000 for the 1980 season. The team would play at Phoenix College’s Hoy Field where it would need to have an average attendance of six to seven thousand to break even. The average ASL attendance was about 3,800 per game.

It was also announced that Phoenix’s head coach would be Jim Gabriel. He had been the head coach of the Seattle Sounders for the past three years and resigned from the team only six weeks before. Lesser contacted him only a few days after the resignation and Gabriel inked a five-year contract with PPS. Lesser named himself general manager of the nascent team with Gabriel to be assistant GM. Gabriel brought Harry Redknapp, his assistant coach in Seattle, with him to Phoenix as an assistant coach and player.

In December, Jerry Underwood of Phoenix won a name-the-team contest and the team was dubbed the Phoenix Fire. The team officially signed a lease with the state to use Hoy Field for the season. And, Gabriel, with seemingly deep pockets, began signing players.

Roger Verdi was the first player signed to the expansion franchise. Born Rajinder Singh Virdee to Indian Sikh parents, his family moved to England when he was a child and he eventually changed his name due to racism. Playing with youth clubs in England, Verdi, a defender, moved to North America when he was not offered a professional contract by an English club. Verdi played in the NASL from 1972 to 1978 and then moved to the ASL in 1979 helping the Columbus Magic make the league finals. 

Later that month, the team signed three more players. The first two were Terry Hickey, a midfielder from London, and Darrell Oak from North Dakota. The fourth player signed was New Yorker Manny Matos who had won the 1974 NCAA Division II championship with Adelphi University. All three of the signees had previously played for Gabriel in Seattle.

On January 11, 1980, the ASL held its annual college and territorial drafts in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Fire selected eight players in the draft including Henry Valdez, from Mesa High School, as its very first draft pick during the territorial round. Of those players, only the team’s final pick, Jim Anglim, a midfielder from Adelphi University, made the final roster.

At the end of January, the Fire signed two more players. Victor Arbelaez was a Columbian forward who had helped the University of San Francisco win an NCAA soccer championship in 1975. Aarbelaez was also a veteran of the ASL and NASL as well as the Major Indoor Soccer League. His claim to fame in the major league was scoring the only goal for the Las Vegas Quicksilvers in a 1-0 win against the legendary 1977 New York Cosmos team.

But, the bigger story for the Phoenix soccer community may have been the signing of Ray Ochoa of Mesa. Only 19 years old, Ochoa had been an all-state athlete at Mesa Westwood High School and played for the Mesa Stormers of the Arizona senior league.

On February 11, the Fire announced the signing of three veteran players which announced to the rest of the ASL that the expansion team would be a force to be reckoned with for the 1980 season. Scottish striker, Jimmy Rolland, had spent the prior four seasons with the ASL’s Los Angeles Skyhawks. Rolland had helped the Skyhawks to the 1976 ASL championship in their first season and was the team’s leading scorer and league MVP as the team made the ASL final in the 1978 season.

Another big signing was Liverpudlian, John Rowlands. The defender (and sometime forward) had been a journeyman in the English Football League before joining the NASL as a teammate with Jimmy Gabriel with the Seattle Sounders in 1974 and 1975. Rowlands was acquired from the NASL’s San Jose Earthquakes to play for Phoenix.

The other signing from England was Tom Jenkins. The midfielder had been a teammate of Jim Gabriel at Southampton during the late sixties and early seventies then joined Gabriel at the Seattle Sounders later in the decade. While Rollands and Rowlands were still starters when they joined Phoenix, Jenkins had barely played more than a handful of matches for Seattle the prior two seasons. Immediately before joining the Fire, Jenkins had played regularly for the Pittsburgh Spirits of the MISL during the league’s inaugural 1979-80 season.

Along with building a competitive roster, the expansion Fire also made outreach with the Phoenix community. Along with the signing of Ochoa, the Fire’s staff also took part in a celebrity soccer match against local celebrities. The outreach seemed to work as the Fire’s season ticket sales of 900 was second in the league only to the Pennsylvania Stoners’ 1100.

The team hoped to make a big splash in its first real match by hosting the NASL’s Chicago Sting on February 22 at Hoy Field. A week prior, Jim Gabriel had only had a chance to hold two practices for the expansion team but had begun having daily morning practices at Grand Canyon College leading up to their first match.

Four more players, bringing the total to 16, were signed the Tuesday before the match with Chicago. Forward Harry Redknapp was officially signed as a player and assistant coach. Redknapp brought goalie Kieron Baker out of semi-retirement to join the Fire. The pair had been teammates with Bournemouth. Baker had been the regular goalkeeper for most of that time, but was on the roster of Ipswich Town during the 1978-79 season. He never played for the first team and retired at the end of that season due to injuries.

Two more journeyman English leaguers were also signed. Defender Neil Hague, previously with Darlington, had also played with Redknapp at Bournemouth. And, forward Terry Shanahan had previously been with Aldershot.

Rounding out the roster were a trio of Americans. Tim Logush was the most experienced. The forward won the 1971 U.S. National Amateur Cup with Kutis S.C. of St. Louis and won two NCAA soccer championships in 1972 and 1973 with the Saint Louis Billikens. Logush was drafted by the NASL’s Seattle Sounders in 1975 but only saw action in four games. That same year Logush earned a cap with the U.S. Men’s National Team during a 4-0 loss to Poland on June 24. Logush went on to play in the ASL with the New Jersey Americans and Indianapolis Daredevils before joining the Phoenix Fire. Another young Saint Louis University player, Dean Shemeld, signed with the Fire after traveling from Milwaukee for an open tryout. Finally, backup goalie, Tom Lytle, had previously played with the Santa Clara College Dons.

That Friday, with an announced attendance of 9,809, the Phoenix Fire defeated the Chicago Sting in a 2-1 come-from-behind rally. Chicago’s German striker, Arno Steffenhagen, scored unassisted in the fifth minute after intercepting a pass. Neither team scored the rest of the first half as Phoenix put little offensive pressure on the Chicago goal.

Gabriel made tactical adjustments at halftime to play wider to the wings. He moved John Rowlands up from defense to take advantage of the player’s height and gave Terry Shanahan more freedom on the pitch. The changes gave more variety to the Fire’s attack.

With 25 minutes left to play, Steffenhagen was sent off for multiple fouls giving Phoenix the man advantage. In the 72nd minute, Shanahan crossed the ball from the left corner to Rowlands who headed the ball in from 18 yards out. Shanahan won the game in the 87th minute scoring a goal from 10 yards out on a centering pass from Tim Logush.

The Fire’s next match was a preseason game against fellow ASL expansion team, the Golden Gate Gales which were based in the Bay Area. Although the team was riding high after the game against the Chicago Sting, the Fire would be without the services of their starting goalie for two months as Baker had broken a knuckle during the match. But, backup goalie Lytle, handled the situation well and, on March 1, Phoenix defeated the Gales 1-0 at Hoy Field on a goal by Jimmy Rolland.

The Fire’s biggest challenge was yet to come. They were due to face the Mexico National Team on March 11 at Hoy Field. At this point, Mexico’s young superstar forward, Hugo Sánchez, was not only playing for his national team but also with UNAM of the Mexican Primera División and the NASL’s San Diego Sockers in the off-season.

A few days before the match, storm clouds began developing over the Phoenix Fire organization. Lesser stepped down as general manager of the team and the board of directors decided to take a more active role in the team’s management.

The Mexican National Team dominated the Fire 3-0 in front of 3,500 at Hoy Field. Jim Gabriel tasked the young Mesan, Ray Ochoa, to mark Hugo Sanchez. While Ochoa held his own in the first half, Sanchez outclassed the rookie in the second.

Jorge Malo Lopez put the Mexicans on the board in the 20th minute scoring off a rebound on an indirect kick. Sanchez received a pass from Juan Luis Gonzales from the right corner and scored in the 55th minute. And, with less than six minutes to play, Ochoa fouled Sanchez leading to a penalty kick that the superstar converted.

The Phoenix Fire had one more preseason match on March 14 at Hoy Field against the Sacramento Gold, 1979 ASL champions, before their first regular season began on March 22 at home against the Golden Gate Gales. Jim Gabriel had finalized his roster, a mix of experienced English league veterans and young Americans, that he hoped would contend for the 1980 ASL championship.

But off the field, the Fire was in trouble. Papers began reporting that sources inside the organization said the team was in financial crisis and unable to meet certain obligations. The Gold were promised $2,000 plus expenses for two preseason games but the team was unsure if the payment would be made. In addition, the ASL had ruled John Rowlands ineligible because the check used in the transaction to acquire the player could not be cashed by the San Jose Earthquakes. Rowlands could not play against Sacramento.

According to players and front office personnel, Leonard Lesser did not so much as resign but was removed by his fellow investors. The club had a letter of credit for $1.5 million over three years with $500,000 earmarked for losses each season. But, after finding out that Lesser had severely over budgeted the organization, the remaining investors stepped in to jointly operate the team until a new general manager was found.

Sacramento beat the Fire 1-0 on an Anselmo Vicioso goal from 30 yards out. Only 500 were in attendance to see the exhibition. Coach Jim Gabriel subbed himself into the match at the striker position near the end of a match. The move was a personal superstition Gabriel had to play a few exhibition minutes each season.

The ASL governors flew to Phoenix the day after the Sacramento preseason match in hopes of finding a strategy to save the Fire. Their main plan was to severely cut back on player salaries and promotions.

Lesser had inked some players to $35,000 contracts. And, with the average player salary in the ASL at $12,000 to $15,000, officials were uncertain how Lesser expected to pay such high salaries with only 14 home games. In addition, the Fire had spent $50,000 to expand Hoy Field to 15,000 seats from 9,000 even though no ASL team had ever averaged 9,000 fans. Lesser had already committed over $500,000 before the season even began.

Players were found to have not been paid and checks issued by the club bounced. Even though they had not been paid, the players agreed to play the second, newly scheduled preseason match against Sacramento on Sunday, March 16.

The Fire and the Gold drew 1-1 on Civitan Soccer Sunday at Amphitheater High School in Tucson. Arbaelez scored on a header from a Rolland pass in the 9th minute. And Mike Mancini tied it up in the 30th minute after intercepting a Phoenix back pass. But the 3500 in attendance saw a substandard affair caused by the narrow high school football field and, likely, disinterested players.

On March 18, four days before the Phoenix Fire played its first regular season game, the team’s PR director, Joe Daggett, intended to put out a press release about the organization’s status. He was unable to complete the task because a leasing company had taken back the team’s typewriters.

Lesser was still optimistic that the Fire would play its first match, but coach Gabriel and the investor group working to save the franchise were extremely pessimistic. Sources indicated that most of the essential office equipment was gone, the team had missed its payroll for players and staff, and was $100,000 in debt. Financial obligations such as rent and installation of bleacher seats at Hoy Field and travel costs to bring in foreign players had gone unpaid.

Players were unsure of their next move and even how they would get back home. Jim Gabriel planned to borrow money to move his family back to Bellevue, Washington and then sell his house there to start over. He had been contacted by the San Jose Earthquakes for a coaching position but was unable to negotiate while under contract with Phoenix.

“This team could have won the ASL,” he said. 

The next day, at a board of directors meeting for the club, Leonard Lesser resigned as president and member of the board, but retained his stock interest. Lesser then came up with $450 in cash, which Jim Gabriel split among the players at $20 a piece.

Even though the writing was on the wall, the Fire’s management refused to issue a statement concerning the official status of the club. With only a day before the opening game of the ASL season, the league and the Fire’s opponent, the Golden Gate Gales, had to assume the game was still officially on until formally told otherwise.

A group of fans quickly formed the “Friends of Soccer” group that set up a benefit game for the players to be played the same night as the all-but-cancelled league match at Hoy Field. The game would match the Fire players against an Arizona all-star team with profits going to help with players’ living expenses and travel costs back to their homes.

Phoenix College announced the field would not be available for either the Fire or the benefit game unless they were paid the $1708 rental still owed. And, while the Gales were still expected to arrive for their scheduled game, the ASL reported that the Fire had still only registered three of its players. If the Fire were to play the other players illegally, the game would be declared a forfeit and Phoenix would be fined $10,000. Neither the league nor the Gales nor even the Friends of Soccer could do anything until they had official word on the status of the club from the Phoenix Fire.

“We were taken in,” said an ASL owner. “It should never have happened.” - The Sacramento Bee, 21 March 1980

Phoenix Professional Sports released Phoenix College from its game day contract allowing the Friends of Soccer to hold its benefit game at Hoy Field. Phoenix College cut its normal rental fee by $1,000 dollars for the group. The league officially postponed the regular season opener, giving Fire officials until midweek to find new owners or investors.

The Fire players beat the team of Valley amateurs 5-0 in front of 660 paid spectators. After expenses, each player received $21.33. This was all the cash players had received since March 1.

Mel Shimek, one of Phoenix’s co-owners, was still working to get investors. The group had been able to come up with $40,000 but were still hoping to raise another $60,000 via small investors coming in under limited partnerships. Jim Gabriel was willing to stay if things turned around, but had to drive back to Bellevue with his family leaving Harry Redknapp in charge of the club. Redknapp didn’t mince words, placing the blame squarely on Lesser. He stated that Lesser had missed paychecks as early as January 15.

On Thursday, March 28, the Phoenix Fire’s ASL franchise was terminated by the club’s board of directors.

After the experience, Roger Verdi, estimated to have a salary of $35,000, was angry at both the club and the league. He dubbed the ASL “a nickel and dime operation” and vowed never to play for the league again unless they paid him up front.

A few months later, in July, Verdi was again the first player signed by a Phoenix expansion franchise. This time it was the Phoenix Inferno of the MISL. Verdi would play the entire 1980-81 season for the Inferno before retiring and moving into coaching.

Jimmy Gabriel borrowed $5,000 from friends to move his family back to Bellevue. Once there, he put his house up for sale in order to pay off debts accrued due to the debacle in Phoenix. In October, Gabriel would be hired by the San Jose Earthquakes to become their new head coach.

In November, Leonard Lesser was back in the news. In New York, he held a press conference to announce the formation of a 10-team U.S. Soccer League which would use only American-born players and begin in the spring. Later that week, Harvey Greenberg, a Phoenix investment counselor who would be the founder of the league’s Phoenix franchise, stated that he conceived of the venture and Lesser had only been invited because of his acquaintance with the NASL and ASL. Nothing came of the league as prospective members were hesitant to associate themselves with a venture connected to Lesser.

In January of 1981, Lesser was indicted by a Maricopa grand jury with conducting a fraudulent scheme, six counts of securities fraud, three counts of theft, and four counts of falsifying corporate records. County attorneys alleged that Lesser overstated the value of Phoenix Professional Sports in order to obtain investments and siphoned money from corporate accounts for his own unauthorized use. Lesser was also accused of falsifying corporate balance sheets and check registers to prevent investors from uncovering the true state of PPS’s finance and to cover his own thefts. Investors were alleged to have lost $200,000.

During the investigation, Phoenix police discovered that Lesser had also written a fraudulent check for the $200,000 down payment in the attempted purchase of the Memphis Rogues. The check bounced because the investigation found that the bank account never had a balance of over $50.

In August, Lesser was found guilty of defrauding investors but acquitted in 10 other criminal violations. That December he was sentenced to serve one year in Maricopa County jail and seven years probation plus 300 hours of community service after his release. He was allowed to remain free on a $10,000 bond pending his appeal. The verdict was upheld by the Arizona Court of Appeals in June of 1983.

- Dan Creel

IMAGES

OutOfShapeBowl: Feb 16, 1980, Arizona Republic

FireVsChicago: Feb 20, 1980, Arizona Republic

LesserResigns: Mar 9, 1980, Arizona Republic

Mexicans: Mar 11, 1980, Arizona Republic

FireRoster: Mar 14, 1980, Arizona Daily Star

FireExtinguished: Mar 28, 1980, Arizona Republic

VerdiQuote: Mar 29, 1980, Arizona Republic

Frank Borghi: The Keeper Who Held Off England

I’m a USMNT fan. In fact, I’d say I’m more of a USMNT fan than I am of any club team I follow, which helps when I’m writing about grassroots soccer for sure. I’m not a big fan of any specific club, so I cover them all. But one of my favorite things to do is to dip into USMNT history, which is mostly ignored, aside from a few big names. Especially when you move back further than 1990. The timeline is sparse and the names are mostly just names, without much background or context.

So allow me to give you some context on a player from the past, a goalkeeper by the name of Frank Borghi. If you want the short version of the story, Borghi was the keeper for the 1950 USMNT World Cup team, the team that famously beat England in the group stage. He was the man in the pipes in Brazil, sealing the victory for the team. Because of that win, Frank and the rest of the 1950 team were inducted into the National Hall of Fame in 1976. And if that’s all you knew, at least you knew something about that 1950 team. But there’s so much more to Frank Borghi.

Borghi was born in St. Louis on April 9, 1925. He grew up in a neighborhood in St. Louis called The Hill, a predominantly Italian part of the city, known for, as one tourism website puts it, “world-class athletes and Italian cuisine.” Famous baseball players of the 1950’s, Yogi Berra and Joe Garagiola, were both from the area and much like those greats, Borghi originally wanted to play baseball.

He was good at baseball, really good. Good enough to play for the St. Louis Cardinals’ Double A team at third base. He only played soccer in the off season to stay in shape, because his real ambition was to play baseball professionally. He told the story in one interview that a scout had showed up to his mother’s doorstep to recruit him and she ran him out, yelling that her son would stay home with her forever.

Of course, in 1941, with World War II in full swing, many sons went off to war, Borghi among them. He would serve as a decorated medic in the war. He earned a bronze star and a purple heart for his service. There is a story that during his service, he actually treated Baseball Hall of Famer and eventual St. Louis Cardinals’ radio man, Jack Buck. Stranger things have happened.

When Frank returned home, he decided to play soccer full time, but made an important decision due to his own limitations. “I've got big hands and I was able to catch the soccer ball. Over the years, I never developed the kicking skills for playing soccer, so I had to play goalie.” According to David Lange, the coach was well aware of his limitations, as well as his strengths. “Borghi was a field player in his early soccer career, ‘but I had no ball skills or passing ability,’he said in the 2009 interview. When his team’s regular goalkeeper wasn’t available, Borghi asked his coach, Joe Numi, if he could play in goal. ‘I knew I could catch a ball and throw it 50 yards,’ Borghi said. ‘Joe says, ‘Yeah, go ahead.’ It worked out really good for me.’”

Borghi played in the powerhouse years of St. Louis soccer, with a club that would win two National Champion Cups, St. Louis Simpkins-Ford. Borghi was in goal for both Cups, in 1948 and 1950. The club won three Khoury League championships during the seven years Frank played with Simpkins. Borghi’s quality in the net would earn him a chance to play for the USMNT in their qualifying for the 1950 World Cup.

During the 1949 qualifying tournament between fellow North American teams, Mexico and Cuba, Borghi would be the keeper during the all important match up for second place against Cuba. The match was played in Mexico in front of 60,000 on September 21. The United States won handily, 6-2, qualifying for the World Cup.

In the World Cup, the Americans were drawn into a group that featured England, Spain, and Chile. In the first match, against Spain, the USMNT scored first, but surrendered 3 goals in the last 12 minutes to lose 3-1. How that would have affected Borghi heading into the next match against England, it’s hard to say, though he did joke that he hoped to not give up five prior to the match.

The English came out firing, prepared to put  the upstarts in their place quickly. In the first 15 minutes of the half, Borghie would face six shots, with two going off the posts. But, in the 37th minute, Joe Gaetjens would head the ball into the corner to give the USMNT a lead that Borghie would have to make good on. When the shot went in, he knew the English would be even more aggressive and is quoted as saying, “Oh my God, the roof is going to cave in.”

David Lange’s excellent article, written at the death of the keeper in 2015, describes the biggest moment of the 1950 World Cup showdown. “Perhaps Borghi’s biggest save came on a free kick just outside the U.S. penalty area late in the game. St. Louis center back Charlie Colombo tackled Stanley Mortensen from behind just outside the top of the penalty area... England’s Jimmy Mullen headed the free kick on the bounce past Borghi, but Borghi somehow reached behind and knocked the ball away. The British claimed they had scored, but the referee ruled the ball had not crossed the line entirely before Borghi reached it.”

Joe Gaetjens, the game’s lone scorer, being carried off the field.

When the match ended, with the US triumphant 1-0, Borghi and Gaetjens were carried off the field on the Brazilian fans’ shoulders. Brazil saw England as a potential rival and desperately wanted them to lose. When the USMNT delivered, they were instant heroes. Three days later, they would lose to Chile 5-2 and finish last in Group 2. While Borghi would continue to play club ball, his time with the national team was done.

After his World Cup time, Frank Borghi continued to live in St. Louis with his wife Rosemary, having seven children. After the end of his playing days, he ran a funeral parlor. In an interview in the St. Louis Dispatch, he was asked if he was a soccer legend. His response showed his character, that of a hard working man who used his talents of the best of his abilities.”I don't know about that. Let's just say I was very fortunate to have played with some outstanding players. They were my friends.”

Frank Borghi’s hand (image credit St. Louis Dispatch)

- Dan Vaughn

Sources:

https://explorestlouis.com/things-to-do/neighborhoods/the-hill/

https://everybodysoccer.com/even-the-goalkeepers-like-to/2015/2/4/frank-borghi

http://www.stlshof.com/frank-borghi/

https://stlouligans.com/archives/968

https://www.stltoday.com/suburban-journals/metro/life/between-the-posts-with-frank-borghi/article_55c359e2-2c38-5814-8e4a-a55d1315db71.html

Building a Winner: William H. Todd’s Brooklyn Soccer Legacy, 1918 – 1921

Be loyal to your men and they will be loyal to you - W.H. Todd

The Volunteer, a centerboard-compromise sloop, engineered by renown American ship designer Edward Burgess, defeated Thistle and won America’s Cup in 1887. The racing yacht was unfurnished below decks to reduce weight and was the first to be built with a steel frame and hull – her deck was made of white pine and she was an absolute pearl. Burgess had also designed the Mayflower, which won the America’s Cup just a year prior, however Volunteer was advanced in every way and skipper Hank Haff handily defeated the competition and took home the trophy. By the end of the 19th century, interest in yachting and ship building was at an all time high and due to the amazing progressions in technology, those wealthy enough to play in that arena could pour money into the sport and reap the rewards. Volunteer was retired from racing and sold for a considerable amount to John Malcolm Forbes, son of John Murray Forbes, the American railroad magnate who competed with the Vanderbilt family for money and influence.

Built in Wilmington, Delaware, Volunteer was a masterclass in both engineering and construction – she was assembled by the Pusey & Jones Corporation, which was founded in 1848 as a machine shop and rose rapidly to prominence after building sloops of war for the United States during the Civil War. Well-known for their top-quality work, Pusey & Jones was often subcontracted by competing shipbuilders to construct the engines and boilers for those vessels. One of the most well-regarded boilermakers at the corporation was James Todd, who brought his son to work with him as an apprentice. William Henry Todd, born in 1864, was 23 years old when he helped put Volunteer together for Pusey & Jones – his experiences working for a winning organization and understanding the value of hard work and craftsmanship would carry him through to high levels of success in everything he touched, both in shipbuilding as well as in sport.

William Todd first had a hand in “building a winner” with his hard work on the Volunteer while employed by Pusey & Jones.

In 1893, 29-year-old William Todd, left Wilmington in pursuit of more responsibility and challenge; he took a position at the Navy Yards in Brooklyn, New York. The United States was rapidly becoming one of the most influential economies in the world, exporting raw materials as well as manufactured goods to all corners of the globe. The US Navy was growing accordingly to ensure safe sea lanes were in place for the burgeoning American empire. Todd’s work was laid-out for him, and he was well-up for the challenge. Within three years, his authority and work ethic became infectious and again, he was ready for a new challenge – which he found in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn when he took a position as a foreman with Robins Dry Dock & Repairs Company.

“He began his work in private docks as a master mechanic; he was soon made assistant superintendent. His men looked up to him and his work was pushed ahead of others. He was learning to get things done and to get others to do them for him.” In 1909, when Robins’ founder, Mr. John R. Robins, was ready to step down and reinvigorate the company, there was nobody better suited to the task than the hard-working William H. Todd. Todd had some irons in the fire as well and shortly after the first World War broke out in 1914, his industry received an appreciated boost.  “Old bottoms were hustled out of mud banks and sent into mudbanks where little expense was spared to make them seaworthy. Everything that could sport a sail or had a half-workable engine room left was being set to work.” Todd Shipyards was born and working double-time to get ships out to sea and defend the shipping lanes from the Germans. Robin’s Dry Dock was put under the new Corporation as a subsidiary, along with Tietjen & Lang from Hoboken, Seattle Construction & Drydock and Tebo Yacht Basin Company of Brooklyn, New York which were all purchased by Todd and merged into the new, massive ship building and repair company.

An early aerial illustration of Robins Dry Dock in Red Hook Brooklyn.

William Todd was a sporting enthusiast and a known philanthropist; he was a member of at least eight society clubs in New York, including the obvious ones like The Society of Naval Architects and Engineers and The Atlantic Yacht Club. However, he was also a paying member of the Crescent Athletic Club of Brooklyn and the New York Athletic Club. Though he was very likely aware of soccer as a competitive sport, as it was hard to miss at the time, Todd may have learned about the existence of Bronx United, Brooklyn Field Club, New York FC and their membership in the National Association Football League (NAFBL) from conversations with other patrons of his sporting society clubs. In addition to the NAFBL, there was the local metropolitan league and the La Sultana Cup, which pitted amateur teams from around the great state of New York against each other, as well. Todd understood how to build things; ships, businesses, and relationships with colleagues, as well as with his employees, and in 1918, as a means to keep morale high, Todd Field was built on the grounds at the Robins Dry Dock facility in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn. 

Brooklyn was absorbed into New York City in 1898; within a decade immigration to New York from Europe had exploded and peaked in 1907, with 1.3 million people coming through Ellis Island alone. Hundreds of thousands of newcomers, who brought their old world culture, would make the boroughs of the City, including Brooklyn, their new home. They brought something else as well, an absolute love for soccer. However, the parks all around New York, which bore the name of the cultures carving out space for themselves, were not necessarily “brimming with soccer fields.” Soccer was being played, however, and there are mentions of “football” being played at the Parade Grounds in Prospect Park and at Dyker Park, but NYC Parks was unable to determine, a hundred years after the fact, which type of football might have been played.

Todd Shipyards added Todd Field to their primary grounds where Robins Dry Dock was located and teams from Robins, Tebo Yacht Basin, and Tietjen & Lang Drydock all played their home games.

A Brooklyn Annual Report from 1916 tells us “the popularity of soccer football in the park playgrounds is increasing each year” and public parks would organize local inter-park soccer tournaments. But this was far from the higher level of soccer being played in the NAFBL and La Sultana Cup, “As with several recreational pastimes, including golf and swimming, this is one area where the Parks Department wasn’t always the only game in town.  Soccer, perhaps more than other sports, was dependent on private associations. Naturally then, the New York men (and women too!) interested in soccer formed clubs that were privately run and often sponsored by the companies for which they worked. They also often played on fields furnished by the company.” William Todd was evidently not satisfied in simply encouraging his employees to play in local park tournaments, by assigning valuable property in a very compressed New York landscape to build out a soccer field, he was getting ready to add a team to the ranks to either the NAFBL, the New York State Football League… or both.

Tebo Yacht Basin, one of Todd Shipyards’ recent acquisitions, was well known for its work in assembling top-quality American yachts, and was just two miles away from Todd Field. Located at the end of 23rd, near the Bush Terminal, the neighborhood just east was incorporated into Sunset Park in the 1960s and is now considered a part of Greenwood Heights; however, at the time, it was all just considered South Brooklyn. Todd would authorize Tebo Yacht Basin to form a squad and join the Metropolitan league in New York in 1918; Tebo Yacht Basin FC started their season being drawn to play and lost to Viking FC in round one of the National Challenge Cup. A loss they would exact revenge for a few years later in the La Sultana Cup.

The 1918-19 National Challenge Cup (now the US Open Cup) also shows another Todd Shipyards subsidiary soccer team in the tournament, Tietjen & Lang, of Hoboken, New Jersey. They were battered in the first round 0-6 by The Scottish-Americans of Kearny, New Jersey. There’s no further mention of this club, however, and it might be assumed they began the same year as Tebo Yacht Basin, and their successful sister club, Brooklyn Robins Dry Dock FC. All three clubs likely played at Todd Field and it would be Tebo Yacht Basin FC and Robins Dry Dock FC who would begin the organization’s amazing haul of cups and league titles from all over the region in such a short span of time.

In an era bereft of transfer periods or window, Robins Dry Dock FC accumulated some of the era’s most talented players as their season progressed.

Robins’ first season began in the Autumn of 1918 as well, with entry into the National Challenge Cup - they won their way through the first round, into the second and defeated Bridgeport City FC of Connecticut to make it to the third round. Unfortunately they lost to eventual Cup Runners-Up, Patterson FC, but it took Paterson a replay to get the win. Robins’ roster was surprisingly well-loaded; the Great War had just ended in November of that year and it had taken its toll on the rosters, not just of soccer teams in New York, but of all sports anywhere. Young men from all over the nation were drawn into service for their country and that left many sports organizations scrambling, not only to fill their rosters, but to even compete. The NAFBL was forced to allow three teams to bow out before the season even began and a fourth club, the East Newark Scots-Americans, left the competition - drained of players after five games. Robins Dry Dock FC were allowed to join the league during week six, and assume the schedule of the Scots-Americans who vacated their fixture list. 

Robins finished fourth that season, followed it up by finishing third in 1919-20 and third again in 1920-21; while third place is a respectable finish for most clubs, it was the cup competitions where Robins Dry Dock FC really made their hay. In their three years of existence, they got laid up in the semifinals of the American Cup once and won the whole competition twice - beating Fore River and Bethlehem Steel respectively. Bethlehem Steel had won five of the previous six American Cup finals before getting knocked down a peg by Robins Dry Dock FC. Robins made it a double over Bethlehem Steel in 1919-20, by knocking them out of the National Challenge Cup (this even came on the heels of knocking Fall River out the round prior - Robins were a force to be reckoned with after only a couple years on the scene).

It was that 1919-20 National Challenge Cup semi-final which set something more in motion for Robins, while after all the noise they made beating storied clubs like Bethlehem and Fall River, they went out with a whimper to Fore River. William Henry Todd, owner of Todd Shipyards Corporation and sponsor of his subsidiary organizations’ soccer teams, did not like to lose. He had a track record of reorganizing and finding the best of the best to make things happen. Todd spent the 1920-21 season acquiring assets; he brought in an entire pantheon of soccer talent from the roaring twenties: Bob Millar was brought over from Bethlehem Steel, along with Thore Sundberg, George McKelvey and Harry Ratican.

Bethlehem Steel took a tour of Scandinavia, where they found Thore Sundberg, whom Todd in turn tempted over to his Robins Dry Dock project.

Hall of Famer Robert “Bob” Millar had two stints with Bethlehem Steel before signing with Robins Dry Dock in 1920, but this wasn’t his first time playing for a Brooklyn club - he had originally come over from St. Mirren in Scotland and became a bit of a journeyman, playing for 14 different American clubs (including a loan spell at Tebo Yacht Basin too). Sundberg, of course, was signed away from AIK Solna by Bethlehem Steel on a tour of Europe in 1919 - he was highly regarded as a “leading forward in Sweden” with a pair of caps for his country but extensive experience leading the line for AIK from 1916 until he was swept to the US to play in the American Cup. At some point Todd, or Robins coach JR Drysdale, liked what he saw and stole him away from Bethlehem.

George McKelvey had played for Bethlehem during one of their most impressive periods - winning their respective league five times, accumulating four National Challenge Cups and five American Cups with the legendary team. However, at some point in the 1920-21 season, McKelvey moved from Pennsylvania to Brooklyn to run the rule on the right side of the field for Robins. The most impressive jewel from this heist, however, was the addition of US National Team player and future US Hall of Famer, Harry Ratican. He won back-to-back NAFBL titles with Bethlehem and scored critical goals in both their National Cup wins over Fall River and Paterson, respectively. But Todd wasn’t done loading up his roster, he and coach Drysdale plundered Fall River for Fred Beardsworth and Neil Clark, then Scottish players Robert Hosie from Llydebank and Jack McGuire from St. Johnstone - this move for Scottish players would later become endemic of wealthy American clubs paying over the odds for talent, however, in 1920-21 the soccer wars were still in the offing and Todd had a dream team to assemble. Already there was another future Hall of Famer, goal-keeper Peter Renzulli, a New York Native, who made his debut for Robins Dry Dock FC in November 1919, but had established himself as a bit of a local legend playing in those local parks tournaments, then for the likes of St. Georges and Manhattan in the New York State League.

Without a transfer period, clubs could poach players at any time of the season. National Soccer Hall-of-Famer Frankie Vaughn, touted as never having played for anyone other than Ben Millers, actually transferred to Robins for the 1920-21 NAFBL season.

Unbeknownst to all eight clubs in the league at the time, the 1920-21 NAFBL season would be the last one on record - Brooklyn Robins finished 3rd on points (12) behind New York FC (17) and league winners Bethlehem Steel (23). It wasn’t the prize they were seeking, however, after going out in the semifinal of the 1919-20 National Challenge Cup to Fore River, Robins were seeking retribution. Especially so after seeing that Fore River lost in the final to Ben Millers 1-2. In the 1920-21 tournament, the Robins eleven would find their way past their opponents, round after round. On November 25th, it was a convincing win over Columbia Graphophone 3-0; they snuck past Erie AA in the 4th round after a replay. Robins ran into Fore River in the quarterfinals but exacted their revenge with a 3-0 thumping. Interestingly enough, they ran into their sister club Tebo Yacht Basin in the semifinals, but proved why they were the top club and won 3-0 again. On April 19th, 1921, Brooklyn Robins Dry Dock FC made it to the final of the National Challenge Cup to play the two-time winner of their own St. Louis Soccer League, Scullin Steel FC.

The USFA National Challenge Cup Final annually rotated to a new neutral site; in Pawtucket, Rhode Island in 1918, Fall River, Massachusetts in 1919, St. Louis, Missouri in 1920 and Robins would take on the Scullin Steel eleven in the “City of Hills and Mills,” in the southwestern part of Massachusetts. The Final had returned to Fall River and according to the match report from the 1921 Spalding’s Guide to Soccer, “It mattered not to the fans of this section that the Fall River Rovers were not battling on the field that day. Fall River Fans rallied to the support of the game.” With an attendance listed at 8,000 it's easy to assume at least a few hundred made it up from St. Louis or New York for the final, but that level of interest from the neutral fans shows an immense level of interest in professional soccer at the time.

“Robins twice before had been a strong bidder for the highest honors soccer has to bestow in this country, but on both occasions had missed out when the achievement of their greatest ambition seemed imminent,” reports Spalding’s. It was even well-known at the time that Robins had been close contenders and those losses galvanized their sponsors, Todd Shipyards, to spend the money in order to win the prize. The money was well spent too, “Robins exercised the famous short passing style of play that is common to the team comprising kickers from across the water.” Scullin’s dependence on American grit and determination, the kick and run style of play, was no match for the fancy footwork and quick passing of Robins’ forward line. 

The score-sheet from the match report shows the game might have been slightly more interesting to begin with however, Scullin scored first with a goal from Charles Bechtold in the 15th and Robins’ Jack McGuire answered immediately in the 16th to make it even. Scullin Steel went ahead again just minutes later when Bechtold scored his brace. Unfortunately for Scullin, it was at that point that Robins took control of the match and three more players contributed to the win; Robert Hosie in the 29th, Peter Sweeney in the 64th, and George McKelvey finished off the evening with a fourth goal for Robins Dry Dock in the 71st. “Much credit must be given the speedy forward line of the brilliant Robins eleven. Their pace was remarkable. Sweeney, Hosie, McGuire, Ratican, and McKelvey - perhaps no swifter combination has been known to the soccer world of the present day.”

Todd, center, and his National Champion Robins Drydock eleven.

At only their third foray into the National Challenge Cup, Robins Dry Dock had wielded the buying power of their parent organization, Todd Shipyards, and brought the title home to Brooklyn. “The Robins Dry Dock and Repair Company Football Club of Brooklyn equalized in 1920-21 the earlier record of the Bethlehem Steel Company eleven by winning both the National Challenge Cup and the annual trophy of the AFA, next in importance, perhaps, to the national championship.” Robins had done the double. The same squad who knocked Fore River out of the National Challenge Cup in the quarterfinal then humbled them again with a thumping 5-2 defeat in the American Cup final. Harry Ratican, Hosie, Sweeney, Sturch, and McGuire all tallied in the match and Robins were arguably the best American soccer team in 1920-21.

Meanwhile, outside of soccer, the world was still recovering from both World War I as well as the Spanish Flu Pandemic. Complications from these two global issues triggered a sharp deflationary recession in 1920 which lasted until early summer of 1921. The United States was seeing an influx of Veterans which overwhelmed the civilian workforce while the demand for iron, steel, fuel, and especially wartime shipbuilding was in a downturn. It's difficult not to suspect this would have had an economic impact on Todd Shipyards Corporation - in addition to the three soccer teams they were sponsoring in three different leagues in and around New York, Todd’s first Pacific acquisition, the Seattle Construction and Drydock company, may also have been fielding a soccer team in Washington state. William H Todd, even in an economic recession, was immensely wealthy, but he was also a businessman and read the writing on the wall. The NAFBL’s collapse and subsequent rise of the first iteration of the American Soccer League, gave him the perfect opportunity to make his move.

Coming on the heels of Robins Drydock FC’s successes and Tebo Yacht Basin FC’s respective success (having won the La Sultana Cup of New York by defeating Viking FC 2-0) William Todd decided to merge the three, assuming Titjen & Lang’s team was still operating to some extent, and form Todd Shipyards Football Club. This must have come as a shock to the players of both of the corporation’s successful squads as both had planned on joining the newly formed American Soccer League (ASL) and now only one team would be financed by the parent company. Robins’ coach JR Drysdale would stay on as the Todd Shipyards coach and would take most of his national championship winning roster with him. By May of 1921, just a month after the National Challenge Cup Final, the ASL was planning its season and was including the newly formed Todd Shipyards FC in that plan - Todds was spending money on upgrading Todd Field for their first fully professional season and looking to add a few more players to their all-star roster.

By the Spring of 1921, the NAFBL was collapsing as the teams at the top were looking for something higher profile and the teams at the bottom couldn’t afford to keep going as they were. Todd completed the merger of Tebo Yacht Basin FC, Robins Dry Dock FC, and for what it's worth, probably Tietjen & Lang. Manager Drysdale was able to recruit William Whitehead, Adam Smith, James Campbell, and Bill Fryer into the new team and headed into their initial American Soccer League (ASL) season as favorites to make some noise. The ASL was a combination of the old NAFBL with teams from the Southern New England Soccer League and hopes were high. However, the league hit a few snags in the beginning, and despite throwing $6,000 ($79, 476.49 in today’s money) at their newly minted franchise, Jersey City Celtics folded. According to David Wangerin in Soccer in a Football World, “The remaining seven clubs lasted the season, but winter postponements and apathy toward meaningless end-of-season matches - particularly when visiting teams had little financial incentive to travel - meant some did not fulfill all their fixtures.”

The increased costs of competing in the expanded area of the ASL and the issue of dealing with incompetent fellow ownership groups became a burden on teams like Todds who, by all accounts were still well-funded. However, with the economic stresses of 1921-22 combined with the haphazard way the new league was run, Todd Shipyards would not return for another season. Which was a shame too, because despite all the ailments of the league, Todds, led by the “Mac Attack” of Frank McKenna, Jack McGuire, and George McKelvey were putting on lively displays of attacking prowess. After 24 games played in the league, Todd Shipyards finished 3rd behind Philadelphia FC and New York FC, but boasted a +19 goal difference and a return trip to the National Challenge Cup final - against none other than Scullin Steel FC.

Scullin Steel FC didn’t switch leagues; they weren’t bogged down with upgrading their facilities or spending funds on long-distance away days. By and large, Scullin Steel remained the same club that they were the year before and they leveled all competition on their way to the Cup Final in 1922; 2-0 over Johnston City, 3-0 over Ben Millers, 3-0 again beating Pullman FC, and thumping Caledonia FC 4-0 in the semifinal. Scullin hadn’t given up a goal in the entire competition. Todds’ path was a little rockier; 5-3 over NY Field Club, 4-1 over Philadelphia Field Club, cutting it close with a 1-0 victory against Harrison SC, and just getting past Abbot Worsted in their semifinal, 2-1. Todd Shipyards was clearly dealing with a bit of pressure to return to the final and juggle that with the inconsistencies of league play in the ASL.

On March 19, 1922 Scullin Steel FC met Todd Shipyards FC for a rematch of the previous year’s National Challenge Cup Final. Scullin had every reason to feel that they had this one in the bag and had done everything possible to get to High School Field in St. Louis, Missouri - in front of 9,000 spectators and in their very own backyard. According to the match report, “until fifteen minutes before game time the rain came down in torrents.” The pitch was a muddy disaster and for the first half an hour, the home team were anchored as Todd Shipyards came in with their tails up. Jack McGuire, with an assist from Ratican, scored the first goal of the contest in the 17th and just two minutes later, he doubled their scoreline. Scullin Steel were shocked it would take them until nearly the end of the half to get back in the match but once they did, they never looked back, “The youth and stamina of the Scullins started telling. And once the Eastern veterans started to tire, the Scullins were by far the better team. The forwards played as they should, while the halfbacks broke up the combination play of the drydock eleven.” 

After William Todd’s passing, the corporation sold off some assets while adding others, but his name remained on the letterhead until the 21st century.

Scullins unabashedly went very direct, and according to the 1922 Spaldings Guide to soccer, “The Scullins forwards gave an exhibition of the worth of the long pass. All three goals were made possible by the use of the strictly American style of play. Ability to beat the heavier and slower moving Todds to the ball also helped materially.” Cliff Brady pulled one goal back before the half, with an assist from Charles Bechtold. Once play resumed in the second half, Todds were done for - while they had 16 shots on goal in the first half, they only mustered 3 shots in the second half; they also managed to out-foul Scullins, a true sign they had lost their steam in the rain and muck. Elmer “Allie” Schwarz tied the game up in the 71st and the two sides went hammer and tongs for another quarter of an hour. “To Elmer Schwarz, center forward of the Scullins, went the honor of bringing the title back to St. Louis. It was Schwarz who in the waning moments of the second half booted the mud-soaked ball into the upper corner of the net for what proved the deciding point.”

And so it was, Scullins Steel had given everything they had to get back to the final and were happy to face a shadow of a team they had played just a year before. Todd Shipyards FC was devastated - the organization would never field a team in any east coast league again, professional or amateur. It had simply proved to be bad business for William H Todd and he found he could get the same level of competitive satisfaction from playing the stock market in the 1920s - until that also proved to be poor business, as the stock market crash of 1929 would prove. At the age of 68, in 1932, William H Todd passed away and by 1937 Tebo Yacht Basin had been sold to Sullivan Drydock. Todd Shipyards sold some assets and bought others while becoming one of the world’s most successful shipbuilders in the 20th Century. Vigor Industrial bought Todd Shipyards outright in 2011 and ended the story of the vision and effort of William H Todd.

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Sources used for this article:

https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/todd-triangle/history

https://img2.newspapers.com/clip/23324394/wh-todd-profile-shipyard-1917/

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/40784245/022622-boston-globe-abbot-worsted/http://worldwidesoccerstories.blogspot.com/2013/12/playing-in-states-early-edition-part-two.html

https://thecup.us/2019/08/06/us-open-cup-history-a-final-four-with-teams-without-a-title-game-appearance-is-rare/

https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2020/04/global-pandemic-world-war-and-the-1919-open-cup

https://thecup.us/2011/09/30/the-open-cup-final-1914-present/

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1921/04/18/98672456.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tebo_Yacht_Basin_F.C.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooklyn_Robins_Dry_Dock

https://soccerhistoryusa.org/podcast/goals-goals-goals/

https://books.google.com/books?id=1mK2xw1E6dAC&pg=PA348&lpg=PA348&dq=todd+shipyards+seattle+soccer&source=bl&ots=FTRdjRf6fX&sig=ACfU3U3CXDnUi29g72sx61ftl8Ocz30k-A&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjRj8HJxbDqAhViIjQIHT_xAMIQ6AEwD3oECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=todd%20shipyards%20seattle%20soccer&f=false

The Many Versions of the Soccer Wars

Readers may have noticed that a recent lawsuit brought by the USL against the UPSL for breach of trademark brought many soccer commentators to bemoan the return of new “soccer wars”. Why would a beef between leagues result in such an immediate and specific response? The simple answer is that a turf battle between soccer organizations helped doom the Golden Age of U.S. soccer. And, it is not hyperbole to say that the implications of that original “soccer war” continues to resonate until today. Sadly, top-level soccer in the U.S. seems unable to break a regular cycle of internecine wars. In order to give some background, in this article of Kicking Back we present a survey-style history course on American “soccer wars”.

1924-25: An Opening Skirmish

Following the 1923-24 season, the American Soccer League was on the ascendent. The league was stable and pulling in a good deal of fans. The league’s owners decided it was time to grow the eight-team league. They added three new clubs in New England (Boston, New Bedford and Providence) and brought in Fleisher Yarn, a top-notch Philadelphia amateur club.

The added clubs meant more games and the league pushed the schedule from 28 to 44 games. League owners began negotiations with the U.S. Football Association concerning their clubs’ ability to play in the National Challenge Cup (now called the U.S. Open Cup). ASL owners claimed that the additional league games would make it difficult for the clubs to schedule National Challenge Cup games during the season. But, a more practical reason for the disagreement was that the USFA made most of its annual income from the cup by taking a relatively high percentage of the gate receipts. And, after the association took its cut, the pro clubs found it not worth the loss of money when playing in front of smaller audiences when they had to play smaller clubs in the early rounds.

A month before the league season started the ASL voted to withdraw from the NCC. The country’s other major pro league, the four-team St. Louis Soccer League, also voted to withdraw. These moves led to Bethlehem’s local newspaper, The Globe, to announce “Looks Like A Soccer War” in its August 11, 1924 edition.

The leagues hoped to hold a replacement tournament but their different schedules made the idea impractical. Instead, the ASL held a league cup in the spring with the winner, Boston S.C., playing the American Pro Soccer Championship against the winners of the St. Louis league, the Ben Millers. Boston took the three-game series two games to one.

The USFA blinked first and, at their May 1925 annual meeting, they decided to lower their percentage of the NCC gate receipts by over half. This made the competition more palatable for the pro clubs and both pro leagues re-joined the cup in the next year.

1928-29: The Soccer War

Even though a truce was called after the 1924-25 season, the ASL and USFA continued sniping at each other as each regularly threatened to sever relations with the other. In the summer of 1928, the ASL voted Nat Agar as its delegate to the USFA’s annual meeting. Agar was empowered by the league to get the USFA to agree to keep the National Challenge Cup from disrupting the ASL schedule or the league would again withdraw its clubs. Agar, manager-owner of the Brooklyn Wanderers and long-time major domo of New York soccer, was a prime mover in pushing the ASL to flex its muscles. Another such owner was Charles Stoneham who owned baseball’s New York Giants as well as the ASL’s New York Nationals. Stoneham wanted the ASL to become the preeminent U.S. soccer organization. Stoneham’s Nationals won the 1928 NCC. After that victory, he pledged that his club would never play in another USFA tournament, and he called for other major league pro baseball owners to form or acquire ASL clubs to grow the league.

Stoneham’s biggest idea was a push to have the ASL’s champions to be named the champions of the East. In addition, he recommended that a new western league of baseball-owned clubs be created, whose champions would be named champions of the West. Under this plan, the eastern and western ASL champions would meet for the national soccer championship. At this point, the NCC was the preeminent soccer competition in the US and, via that tournament, the two finalists were considered the champions of the east and west with the winner considered the national champions. Stoneham’s proposal would shake up the power structure of U.S. soccer in a major way including greatly weakening the position of the USFA.

Agar came back from the July USFA meeting without a compromise and, in mid-September 1928, two weeks into the ASL season, the league voted to withdraw from the NCC. While the league owners voted to withdraw from the cup, three clubs decided to reject the boycott. Bethlehem Steel F.C., New York Giants S.C. and Newark F.C. ignored the league edict and registered for the tournament. These clubs saw financial benefits from playing in the cup and also rejected the Stoneham plan, in part because the league he wanted to create was a closed franchise model that would cap the number of clubs allowed to take part in his proposed national championship.

On September 27, the ASL suspended the three clubs from the league and fined each $1,000 for entering the NCC. On October 2, the USFA suspended the league. The grandfather of all soccer wars had begun in earnest.

On October 8, the three former-ASL clubs and five other eastern clubs quickly formed a new professional soccer league, the Eastern Soccer League, with the sanction of the USFA. The ASL felt the effects almost immediately. Due to the suspension, the ASL was operating as an “outlaw league” outside the sanctioning of the USFA and FIFA. Any player who played in such a league could also find themselves banned from signing contracts with sanctioned leagues domestic as well as international. As such, many foreign players decided to leave their ASL clubs rather than risk such a ban.

Stoneham’s New York Nationals were the hardest hit. On October 12, ten Nationals players quit the team before a match against the Wanderers due to the USFA’s suspension of the ASL. Most of these were former SC Hakoah Vienna players who joined the league after that club’s 1926 tour of the U.S. The Nationals played an impromptu exhibition with the Wanderers but had to cancel their next two games while they signed new players. In addition, a month later, the club moved from the Polo Grounds to the much smaller Innisfail Park in the Bronx.

While most of the non-ASL clubs were semi-pro outfits, one, the Hakoah All-Stars, was a new club made up primarily of the former ASL Hakoah Vienna players. The first game of the new ESL was held on October 13 between the New York Giants and Bethlehem Steel.

The ESL included several teams from the Southern New York State Football Association. The SNYSFA saw the ESL as an encroachment on its territory and the Association’s president, Dr. G.R. Manning, resigned in protest. Nat Agar ascended to the SNYSFA’s presidency and withdrew the organization from the USFA.

The two pro leagues battled for fans during the fall. On December 23, the clubs from the ASL and the SNYSFA formed the American Soccer Association with the intention to challenge the authority of the USFA. In the spring, following the ASL regular season, the ASA held a cup for all the clubs in the ASL and the SNYSFA. As a counter, the USFA formed a new New York State Football Association and all the ESL teams entered a cup competition of the newly organized NYSFA.

Both pro leagues completed their 1928-29 seasons and moved forward with 1929-30 seasons. The ASL launched relatively early in mid-August in hopes of getting ahead of their rival. But the soccer war and the late-summer recession severely strained the finances of all clubs involved. As the soccer season began, it became glaringly obvious something needed to be done and the parties began formal negotiations.

On October 22, most of the ASL clubs were reinstated by the USFA. While the ESL continued play, the ASL suspended operations as the parties worked toward forming a new league. Two days later, in the middle of these negotiations, the “Black Thursday” stock market crash signaled the beginning of the Great Depression. “Black Monday” struck on October 29 and the Atlantic Coast Soccer League officially formed in the immediate aftermath. The first games of the merged league were played on November 9.

1932: Everyone for Themselves

The 1931 American Soccer League (the ACSL was reorganized and renamed in the summer of 1930) season was the last one that it could be recognized as a true, stable major professional league. At the end of the ASL spring 1931 season, Nat Agar’s Brooklyn Wanderers’ sat in second place behind the New York Giants. Agar protested the championship results due to the Giants having one more game scheduled than Brooklyn. The protest was disallowed. Agar hosted a friendly at Ebbets Field against Glasgow Celtic for the next weekend. The USFA suspended Agar due to some issue with this game and he was forced to sell his interests in the Wanderers.

Numerous franchise moves and foldings over a short amount ended with most of the old guard of owners out of the league by late 1932. The loss of stable finances and leadership led to a chaotic situation for professional soccer. As touched on in an earlier Kicking Back, the remaining New York contingent of ASL clubs withdrew from the league before the spring season began in an attempt to form a new, but ultimately doomed, competitor to the league.

And there were even more battles during that year. After the tumultuous spring season, the USFA began plans to take control of pro soccer in the U.S. by directly promoting and organizing regional leagues. The governing body relied on the National Challenge Cup for income but the funds received were not enough and it was looking to the pro game for new funding sources. The state associations balked at the notion of the USFA circumventing their jurisdictions with rumblings that clubs could leave the USFA and operate as independents. The ASL responded to the USFA’s plan by electing the still-suspended Nat Agar as their new president.

Rather than embark on another protracted battle, the two sides decided on peace. The USFA reinstated Agar and the ASL agreed to allow its teams to enter the NCC. A few weeks later, Agar settled with the newly-formed National Soccer League by reinstating the New York Americans and entering a second New York club into the ASL.

1933: The End of the Golden Age

While the USFA and the ASL had an agreement, this understanding was not welcome at the state level. ASL secretary Sam Fletcher, former Providence F.C. player and owner, moved to organize a separate New England Division of the ASL. He was unable to field enough New England teams, and the ASL moved forward with only its four-team Metropolitan Division for the spring 1933 season.

During that summer, Fletcher met with strong opposition from the New England state associations who disapproved of the ASL’s move to form a separate pro league that would not allow its clubs to take part in non-USFA cup competitions. With the fall season still not settled and hoping to stave off the ASL’s influence, the state associations attempted to form their own professional league but were not able to come to an agreement. Included reorganized ASL franchises in Boston, Fall River and Pawtucket, Fletcher managed to form a nine-team New England Division in time to start the 1933 fall season.

With the New England Division finally a reality, the USFA and ASL had aggregated control of the professional game on the East Coast. One more step solidified that control. On October 16, 1933 Nat Agar retired as president of the ASL and the organization reorganized. The two divisions, Metropolitan and New England, would operate as separate leagues under the umbrella ASL organization which was controlled by a three-man board. Even though the two divisions were the competitive leagues, it was American Soccer League, Inc. that formally held the affiliation with the USFA and given the sole right of interstate professional competition.

The original Soccer War badly destabilized US soccer governance at the national and league level. In addition, the Great Depression massively impeded the financial capacity of soccer owners. These two factors led to the scope of the American Soccer League eroding through the early 1930s. And, as the reach of the ASL narrowed, any hopes of a national soccer system forming during the mid-20th century also expired in part due to the continuing power struggle and lack of cohesion between the USFA and the state associations.

1966-67: The Silver Age

While the rest of the world embraced the modern game, the lack of direction in the U.S. doomed the sport to decline and obscurity in all but a few pockets of the country. Two major factors changed that. First, the 1960s was a period of change and expansion in the North American major sports league landscape. During the decade the American Football League and American Basketball Association were formed as competitors to the established National Football League and National Basketball Association. Also, the National Hockey League began a rapid period of expansion. Second, within that context, the 1966 FIFA World Cup held in England ratcheted up interest in the game to a new level in large part because the event was broadcast live on color television for the first time.

In the spring before that World Cup, FIFA met in New York City. Three North American groups were represented with an interest in forming a major league. The World Cup, held in July, was a massive success.

That summer one group named themselves the North American Soccer League and planned to begin play in 1968. The other two groups merged to become the National Professional Soccer League. For the most part, the ownership of these new teams were made up primarily of groups who already owned teams in the other major league sports.

In August, the NASL received sanctioning from the U.S. Soccer Football Association. Merger talks occurred over the next month with the NASL planning to have all-star and European teams playing in each city in 1967 and a full league to start in 1968. The NPSL ruled out the merger, moved forward with plans for a 1967 season as a 12-team “outlaw league”, and landed a $1 million television deal with CBS.

Later in 1966, FIFA attempted to mediate a merger between the newly-organized leagues but failed to come to an agreement. In late December, FIFA officially sanctioned the NASL as the only U.S. major soccer league. Football associations in various countries warned that their players would be suspended if they signed with the non-sanctioned NPSL.

Wanting to avoid a failure, in February 1967, FIFA stated that players who signed with the NPSL would not be banned for life. In addition the organization urged the USSFA to immediately sanction the NPSL. While most domestic clubs, FIFA and other European clubs wanted the merger, the major stumbling blocks were the NPSL’s low television contract and the NASL’s exclusive 10-year sanctioning.

Because of a lack of a true professional game in the U.S., both leagues needed to look abroad for players. The NPSL opened their season on April 16 with 10 teams made up of mostly foreign players. A month and a half later, the 12-team United Soccer Association (renamed from the NASL that March) opened their “mini-league” with full imported foreign teams playing under contract to the domestic clubs. Merger talks continued to be held during the season.

The USA ended their “mini-league” on July 14 when the Los Angeles Wolves (represented by the Wolverhampton Wanderers) defeated the Washington Whips (represented by Aberdeen F.C.) 6-5 on an own-goal in sudden death overtime to win the 1967 Final before 17,842 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The NPSL completed their season on September 9 when the Oakland Clippers won the second-leg of the final against the Baltimore Bays 4-1 before 9,037 at Oakland-Alameda Coliseum taking the championship with a 4-2 aggregate.

A merger between the leagues was reported to be announced the day before the NPSL final. But, it never materialized when, the day after the final, the NPSL filed an $18 million trust suit in federal court against the USA, USSFA, FIFA and the Canadian Soccer Football Association alleging a conspiracy to drive it out of existence. The suit alleged the groups blacklisted foreign players who signed with the NPSL and that USSFA officials who approved the sanction were given jobs in the USA. The suit also sought to enjoin the USA from fielding teams until the NPSL was recognized.

Merger talks continued between the leagues while the case moved forward. In mid-November a federal judge ordered organized soccer to show cause why it should not be ordered to end its boycott of the NPSL. With the lawsuit pending, the two leagues formally agreed to a merger on December 7 with the new league taking the USA’s old North American Soccer League moniker. The NPSL dropped its suit soon after.

The battle was a costly one for all involved. It was reported that none of the teams in either league made money. The Baltimore Bays, owned by the Baltimore Orioles, lost $400,000 and the NPSL’s Philadelphia Spartans, owned by the Rooney family, lost $500,000 and folded after the merger. The PIttsburgh Phantoms of the NPSL had the worst of it losing $900,000 and also folded.

The 1968 season was similar to the prior one. The league was popular enough to continue but attendance wasn’t large enough to offset the costs and clubs continued to lose money. The league imploded, dropping from 17 teams to five for the 1969 season. But a more conservative approach allowed it to survive through the early 1970s until renewed interest led to a period of rapid expansion in the latter part of that decade.

2009-11: The Soccer Warz

In August 2009, Nike sold its interest in the United Soccer Leagues to NuRock Soccer Holdings instead of a conglomerate of USL First Division owners. These clubs plus a few others broke away from the USL, formed a new North American Soccer League and applied to the USSF for Division II sanctioning.

The USL issued press releases claiming the breakaway clubs may have been in breach of contract and the league could seek litigation to protect its interest. The USSF found that three of the breakaway NASL teams had binding contracts with the USL for 2010, but that left neither league with the minimum number of teams to be sanctioned for that season. In December the USSF stripped sanctioning from the USL First Division and refused to sanction the NASL for 2010. After weeks of negotiation, the USSF announced it would run an interim Division II league for the 2010 season made up of the 12 NASL and USL clubs.

Following that 2010 season, the NASL formally admitted all the breakaway teams and, with enough members, was given provisional Division II sanctioning in November for the 2011 season. The USL ceded the Division II tier to the NASL and reorganized the remaining USL First and Second Division teams into the Division III USL Pro league for the 2011 season.

2015-18: The End of the Modern Era

A new order had been established but one that none involved appeared happy with. The truce between the parties always seemed temporary and the status quo quickly disintegrated.

In September 2015 the NASL accused US soccer of antitrust violations if the USSF went ahead with the adoption of a new set of criteria for professional league sanctioning. The league accused the federation of colluding with Major League Soccer to protect the Division I league’s monopoly. The USSF ignored the NASL and adopted its new Professional League Standards.

During the 2015 and 2016 seasons, the Division III USL (rebranded from USL Pro) doubled in size in large part due to a multi-year agreement with the MLS where the MLS Reserve League was integrated into the league. By the 2016 season, the USL had ballooned to 29 teams of which 21 were affiliates or partners of MLS clubs.

In January 2017, the USSF granted USL provisional Division II status for the 2017 season and only granted the NASL provisional sanctioning due to its membership dropping below the newer 12-team minimum. In September, the USSF revoked the NASL’s sanctioning completely for the 2018 season leaving the USL as the only remaining Division II league.

The NASL responded by filing an antitrust suit in federal court seeking to prevent the USSF from revoking the leagues Division II status and to strike down the federation’s Professional League Standards and other divisional rules. The court ruled against the league’s motion and, in February 2018, the appeal court denied an appeal. In the wake of those rulings, the NASL announced a cancellation of their 2018 season with clubs moving to other leagues.

With the demise of the NASL, Major League Soccer and it’s partner, the USL, gained complete control of the U.S. professional league system. As of the publication of this article, there are 74 teams in the three professional divisions with 44 of them owned or affiliated with MLS.

- Dan Creel

The John F Kennedy Cup: The Legacy of an International Cup Competition on the West Coast, 1960 – 2018

The 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, was an avid sportsman; he played American Football and was a member of his high school swim team. From the onset of his political career, Kennedy made regular visits to baseball as well as basketball events and even valued the physicality and endurance of Soccer. President Kennedy was also a veteran of World War II, and naturally found value in being in tip-top condition. “We are under-exercised as a nation” he said while speaking at the NFL Hall of Fame’s 1961 black-tie event, “we look instead of play, ride instead of walk.” The remedy, Kennedy concluded, “lies in one direction… that is, in developing programs for broad participation in exercise by all of our young men and women, all of our boys and girls.”

Canada was also interested in the benefits of improved physical fitness—at least their soccer federation was. The Canadian National team participated in their first world cup qualifiers leading into the 1958 affair. Mexico dominated the qualifiers and represented the continent in Sweden later that year—but the Canadians finished second in North American qualifying and ideas for a new international cup tournament, which would pit the best of Canada’s Pacific Coast Soccer League against the highest caliber amateur sides from leagues in Washington, Oregon, California and even Mexico, were bubbling as early as 1960. Despite the length and breadth of Canada, the top players had been drawn regularly from the PCSL in British Columbia—and it was the unofficial hotbed of soccer there.

The Province took the Kennedy Cup seriously and gave Vancouver Firefighters the headline in 1962.

The cup competition made it’s debut in 1961, guaranteeing the participation of players from the entire west coast of the United States and President Kennedy lent his name to the trophy as a component of his physical fitness campaign. He had established a Council on Youth Fitness as early as 1956, but, once he was president, Kennedy retitled the program as The President’s Council on Physical Fitness. The Cup is unique, in that it is the only sporting award President Kennedy ever put his name to. The cup competition, known as the Pacific Coast International Championship, ran from 1961 to 1967 and was largely dominated by the Mexican Select sides – Vancouver Firefighters won the tournament twice in its initial run, in 1962 and ’66; However, it was the story book Victoria O’Keefe’s Cup run in 1967 which landed them in both the Victoria Sports Hall of Fame as well as the BC Sports Hall of Fame.

The club better known as Victoria United, who added the O’Keefe’s as part of a sponsorship with a beer company of that name, won the cup “with aplomb” in 1967. To even qualify from the PCSL was no easy task, Victoria had to fight against clubs like two-time Kennedy Cup winners Vancouver Firefighters and foes Vancouver Columbus. O’Keefe’s coach Frank Greely recalls that the competition was stiff, but “these were intelligent, smart players. I always believed in attacking soccer, and sometimes I almost enjoyed so much what I was watching with this group that I forgot that I was coaching.” According to the Victoria HOF article, O’Keefe’s won 19 of 21 matches in their league and went on to host the Kennedy Cup – however, it was on Vancouver Island, instead of on the mainland in Vancouver, and they packed their stadium with only interested locals. They beat Los Angeles FC 3-1 in the Semis and then hosted the finals, shocking a visiting Mexican Best XI in front of 6,000 fans. Sadly, they would be the last winners of the cup for more than 20 years—the competition was shuttered at the end of the 1967 tournament.

Victoria United—The O’Keefes, show off their cup haul from 1967. Including the Kennedy Cup in the final year of its initial run.

Not coincidentally, the NASL was formed the following year, which served as a national soccer league in the United States and not too long afterwards, in 1973, Vancouver Whitecaps, from British Columbia in Canada joined – becoming the main soccer attraction in British Columbia and effectively starving the PCSL of fans and revenue. The city leagues merged to survive and it wouldn’t be until 1989, after the PCSL restructured again, that the Kennedy Cup would make a glorious return. Vancouver Columbus, one of the region’s most dominant sides of that era, added the JF Kennedy Cup to their very full trophy cabinet. Having been formed in 1953 as Sacred Heart, they changed to Columbus in 1957 and by by 1964 won a national title; PCSL title in ’68; the Province Cup and the Canadian Challenge Trophy—they would have won the Kennedy Cup that year too, had it not been shut down.

Columbus was one of the few local sides to survive the NASL era of the 1970s and early ‘80s; by 1989, they had outlived the flashy national soccer era, joined the restructured PCSL and won both the league and Kennedy Cup Tournament. However, according to Jason Beck, Curator and Facility Director at the BC Sports Hall of Fame, The Kennedy Cup, last won by Victoria O’Keefe in 1967, had not actually been in a trophy cabinet after all. “As last winners, they were never required to return the trophy,” Beck says. “Dave told me the trophy remained in his garage in Victoria for several decades before he decided to donate it to our hall, where people could see and appreciate it.” Dave Stothard, captain of the cup winning O’Keefe’s in 1967, handed over the cup, measuring five feet tall, to the BC Sports Hall of Fame in 2009 and the competition was reborn with a new trophy.

(Left) The J F Kennedy Cup, Retired in 1967. (Right) The Kennedy Cup, Revived in 1989—but has not been seen since 2015.

The competition would go on to be dominated by Washingtonian teams like four-time winners FTI Seattle and legendary four-time winners Seattle Hibernian & Caledonian Saints. Hibs-Caley Saints, originally formed in 1990 as Transients Football Club, started accumulating silverware right away and have won very nearly everything an amateur side could win during their era—indoor, outdoor, local, state, and regional competitions; including their first Kennedy Cup in 1995, and three more after that, in ’97, 98’ and 2001. David Falk of GoalWa.net says “they were an authentic football club in a time when soccer in Seattle was marked by the pre-MLS United Soccer Leagues’ Seattle Sounders. They were talented male and female amateurs who, by their play, represented an era of soccer in our region.” Seattle’s Hibs-Caley Saints eventually went on to add the 2005 USASA National title to their list of accomplishments.

Vancouver United, long-since having dropped the O’Keefe portion of its surname, returned to dominate the PCSL and would win the renewed Kennedy Cup competition four more times; 1996, 2002, 2004 and 2005. United, who won their first cup in 1967, were formed in 1904 as part of a merger between Victoria Association Football Club and Victoria Capitals—when the club dissolved in 2014, it left a legacy as one of the oldest sporting organizations in North American History. Another couple of clubs in British Columbia won the trophy, Vancouver Explorers and Surrey United—it wasn’t until 2003 when an Oregonian team finally won the competition, Kells Swoosh FC. Just two years later the Kennedy Cup would discontinue again.

Seattle Hibs-Caley Saints won it all in 2001, including the fourth of their John F Kennedy Cups.

The J F Kennedy Cup Competition has been on-again, off-again since then; however, as does happen, the modern era has been dominated by one side, IPSFC/Marathon Taverna. The team from Portland, who most recently made a deep run into the US Open Cup qualifiers and won the Oregon Premier Soccer League’s 2018 Fall title in some style, won their first JFK Cup in 2010. They won again in 2012, then back-to-back in 2014 and 2015. Sadly, the John F Kennedy Cup seems to have been scuppered once again. “Unfortunately, since 2016, we have been unable to find teams from the US to compete in a Kennedy Cup Tournament,” David Collard, President of the modern Pacific Coast Soccer League says. “The PCSL would be happy to host a JFK Cup Tournament in 2020.”

John F Kennedy’s sporting legacy, the Kennedy Cup, may be on yet another hiatus, but the sport’s popularity is at a fever pitch on the West Coast. There’s no way soccer fans, clubs, and players don’t revive this competition once again. There are already new teams which didn’t exist just a few years ago when the Cup itself disappeared—surely once it shows up in the hands of PCSL once again, British Columbia, Washington and Oregon can continue its pursuit of the longest running regional competition in the Pacific Northwest.

International Portland Select FC/Marathon Taverna have dominated the modern era of the John F Kennedy Cup.

- Joshua Duder

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Sources used for this article:

https://www.politico.com/story/2012/12/kennedy-encourages-americans-to-get-active-dec-5-1961-084582

https://www.si.com/more-sports/photos/2013/11/22/john-f-kennedy-and-sports#21

https://www.gvshof.ca/inductees-2/all-inductees/19-soccer.html

https://pcsl.org/prev

https://goalwa.wordpress.com/2011/07/06/hibs-caley-saints-and-the-wayback-machine/

http://www.opsl.org/KennedyCup

The Post War Sports Boom and the Birth of the North American Professional Soccer League

After the end of the Second World War, the U.S. began to transition from a war-time to a peacetime society. One immediate reaction to this change was an enormous surge in interest in professional sports. New leagues sprang up to satisfy this need and to challenge the more established leagues. In late 1946, the All-America Football Conference and the Basketball Association of America both played their first seasons as direct competitors to the National Football League and the National Basketball League respectively. The sport of soccer also saw a rise in interest and, earlier that same year, the North American Professional Soccer League began play. [Editor’s note: The league is now more commonly known as the North American Soccer Football League.]

April 20, 1947 Chicago Tribune Article.

The league was the brainchild of Fred Weiszmann, who played football in his native Hungary as a youth. By 1945, Weiszmann was a restaurant manager and owner of the Chicago Maroons soccer club. But, he had grand aspirations for soccer both in the U.S. and worldwide. Weiszmann dreamt of an international soccer league where the top teams from each region would play each other in a super league. With Phil Wrigley, owner of the Chicago Cubs, as the Maroons sponsor, Weiszmann applied for membership in the American Soccer League, the only real professional soccer league in operation. The ASL denied the club admission but, in November, gave Weiszmann tentative permission to launch a Midwest Division of the league.

Weiszmann began discussions with midwestern amateur clubs about forming the new ASL division, while, at the same time, the Inter-state Professional Soccer League, another proposed regional league, was in the works. While the ISPSL never materialized, Weiszmann was able to raise $75,000 to launch his new endeavor and gained rights to all the open dates at Wrigley Field for his club.

In January 1946, the proposed ASL Midwest Division announced it had a roster of teams: the Maroons; the Chicago Vikings; Morgan Strasser of Pittsburgh; and John Inglis of Toronto. All of these were successful amateur clubs in their metropolitan leagues and Morgan Strasser had been one of the clubs in talks to join the ISPSL. A few weeks later the U.S. Soccer Football Association (recently renamed from the U.S. Football Association) gave the new league permission to operate and took up an internal discussion about its possible affiliation with the ASL. The league’s affiliation with the ASL never occurred and Wieszmann launched his organization as a fully-independent league. Originally planned to start in April, the league’s season was pushed back to an early June opening. In the interim, the league gained a new club in the newly-organized Detroit Wolverines, and Morgan Strasser and John Inglis were rebranded as the Americanized, Pittsburgh Indians and Toronto Greenbacks respectively.

The Liverpool FC squad that crushed the Maroons in 1946.

On June 2, the Chicago Maroons played an exhibition match against Liverpool FC at Soldier Field and were crushed 3-9. But, while official attendance numbers aren’t known, the crowd may have been large enough to bring new investment into the league. A few days after that match, it was announced that Leslie O’Connor, general manager of the Chicago White Sox, had purchased a half-interest in the Chicago Vikings and that the club’s home grounds would be Comiskey Park.

The league began its eight-game home-and-home summer schedule on the weekend of June 6. On opening day, the Chicago Vikings and Detroit Wolverines drew 4-4 at Comiskey Park with center forward, Gil Heron, scoring a hat trick for the Wolverines. Born in Jamaica in 1922, Heron moved to Canada and then the U.S. with his family as a teenager, eventually landing in Detroit. When war broke out, Heron, as a British subject, joined the Royal Canadian Air Force. Following the war he returned to Detroit to work at an auto plant while also playing soccer. In 1945, playing for Venetia in the Detroit District Soccer League, he scored a staggering 44 goals in just 14 games. Recognized as the first black player in a pro U.S. soccer league, Heron continued to shine scoring 15 goals in eight starts. Heron was easily the league’s top offensive star with his goal totals nearly double the next-highest seven scored by Roscoe Anderson of the Vikings, Pete Matevich of the Maroons, and Harry Pitchok of Pittsburgh.

With 11 points, the Wolverines edged out the Greenbacks by one point to take the inaugural season championship. During the season, a post-season playoff series had been planned but was called off.

Although crowds weren’t as large as hoped, attendance was regularly in the 2,000 to 4,000 range and the league was seen as a modest success. In the December meetings, Fred Weiszmann stepped down as President of the league in order to spend more time as general manager of the Maroons. Leslie O’Connor was named president of the league and Weiszmann named vice president. The league received applications from a number of new organizations and set an expansion franchise fee of $5,000. The Detroit Pioneers, a top amateur club, and the newly-organized St. Louis Raiders were admitted to the league on January 27, 1947. In addition, the league approved a split schedule for 1947: a first half in the spring; and a second half in the fall.

April 6, 1947 - Chicago Tribune

But, as the league looked to expand, it also began to contend with a need to tighten their finances. During those same meetings, Martin Donnelly withdrew his champion Detroit Wolverines from at least the first half of the season. Donnelly spent $40,000 (over $500,000 adjusted for inflation) during the 1946 and was unable to field a team in time for the spring session. The last straw for him was an impression that the league was not living up to the promise of being a big league sport. The Wolverines’ franchise was held open pending a decision if Donnelly was going to field a team for the second half. In addition, both Chicago clubs moved out of their major league grounds and decided to share a high school stadium in Winnemac Park. The St. Louis Raiders had initially planned on using a major league venue, Sportsman’s Park, but decided to use the 3,000-seat Public Schools Stadium instead.

One more hit during the off-season caused the league’s future to seem more wobbly than at first glance. The Chicago Tribune published a front-page story which revealed that Fred Weiszmann had signed a number of players as amateurs, but had, in fact, paid them. One of these, Pete Matevich, was being paid $100 per game which made him the highest paid player in the league. In contrast, Gil Heron, the undeniable star of the league on the pitch, was paid $30 dollars per game. Even after being sold by the inactive Wolverines to the Maroons in the off-season he was still only making $5 more.

The Maroons’, and Heron’s, second game of the 1947 season against the Raiders was also the first professional game in St. Louis since the St. Louis Soccer League disbanded in 1938. A newspaper report before the match noted that Heron would be only the third black player ever to appear on a St. Louis soccer field. Half-back, José Leandro Andrade, one of the greatest footballers of his generation and member of the Uruguay world champion squads, visited St. Louis during Nacional’s 1927 U.S. tour. And, top scorer at the 1938 World Cup, Leônidas, played there when his Botafogo squad played two matches against the St. Louis Shamrocks during a 1936 tour of Mexico and the U.S.

Gil Heron

In Chicago, Heron found a bigger venue than Detroit, but also more abuse on and off the field. As the only black player in the league, fans, even those at home, would hurl taunts and racial epithets at him. Opposing players often kicked, pushed and roughed him up. That July Ebony featured Heron in a piece titled the “Babe Ruth of Soccer”, but often injured and harassed, Heron’s play suffered and he only scored four goals in the first half of the 1947 season.

The league’s schedule for that first half called for a 10-game home-and-home series among the clubs beginning in April and running through June. It was another close one with Pittsburgh and Toronto ending the half at 14 points each. Bad weather caused a number of postponements and, with mounting financial difficulties, league officials met in June to discuss whether it was feasible to play the fall schedule. The discussions ended with an understanding that no team would drop out of the league, the Detroit Wolverines would rejoin, and a fall half would be scheduled.

March 22, 1947 - Detroit Free Press (Bottom right corner)

By the end of August things were looking more bleak. A six-game fall schedule was tentatively approved, and play began the first weekend of September. But, when the second half got underway, the Wolverines never returned, the Vikings quit the pro game and the Maroons folded. The Chicago Maroons franchise was transferred to a new club, the Chicago Tornadoes and it was decided that the Tornadoes would get the best players from the Maroons and Vikings. This new club was owned by the men who had previously financed the defunct Maroons, but Fred Weiszmann was not part of the new franchise. As play began, the Detroit Pioneers dropped out before playing their first scheduled league game against Pittsburgh. The league was, for all intents and purposes, down to three active clubs with an additional one attempting to quickly organize.

After a few games for each active club, the league took a pause to play a previously unscheduled best-of-three series to determine the first half champions. Pittsburgh twice beat Toronto 3-2 on October 11 and on October 12 to take the series. The league announced that the playoffs were taking place during a break so the four remaining league teams (the Tornadoes, Indians, Raiders, and Greenbacks) could prepare for a reconfigured second half. But, just over a week later the league declared it was suspending operations and officially declared Pittsburgh the champions. The Tornadoes never played a game and the remaining active clubs (the Vikings, Pioneers, Raiders, Greenbacks, and renamed Morgan Strasser) returned to the amateur ranks.

In postwar United States, the country had emerged as the most powerful country in the world. A new world order was quickly forming with America as the primary bulwark against the Soviet-led Eastern Bloc. The “American way” was no longer just a lifestyle, it was now undeniable proof we were on the right side in the burgeoning Cold War.

The moment the NBA was born. Image courtesy of WBUR.

At the end of three seasons, the BAA merged with the NBL to form the National Basketball Association. The end of the 1949 pro football season saw both major leagues struggling financially. That December, the AAFC effectively merged with the NFL when three of its seven teams, the Cleveland Browns, the San Francisco 49ers, and the Baltimore Colts, were admitted into the older league. Both of these post-war pro leagues have had a major impact on the American sports landscape.

The narrative of the American Dream tells us that, with all things being equal, anything can be achieved through hard work. Through that lens, the league’s collapse can be seen as a failure of league officials and team owners to understand the market for pro soccer in the late 1940s. A failure that would continue to haunt the sport for the next half century with league after league.

But, in retrospect, what if all things weren’t equal? What is the legacy of the NAPSL then? It is a legacy of a sport that is not American enough. It is legacy of a league whose brightest star was too black. A legacy that Americans can be comfortable that soccer is a failure because it is not good enough, and that soccer is not good enough because it is a failure.

Gil Heron played the next few years with amateur clubs Chicago Sparta and Detroit Corinthians. In 1949, his first wife, Bobbie Scott, and he had a son. In 1951, Celtic F.C. toured the U.S. and Heron was invited to an open tryout. He left his wife and young son for Glasgow and, after a trial, and was signed by the club, becoming the first black man to play for the legendary Scottish club. In his debut for the club, he scored two goals in a League Cup match but was released the next year after only a handful of first team appearances. Heron spent then next two years as a journeyman in the UK and eventually returned to Detroit and a new life.

Gil Heron did not meet his first son, Gil Scott-Heron, again until the famous poet, musician and activist was 26 years-old.

Colombo: A Forgotten Season of Excellence

The 1950's were a tumultuous time for soccer in the United States. The only professional league was the American Soccer League and it had a turnover of teams that one would expect from soccer between its two heights of popularity in the thirties and seventies. Confined to the Northeastern hotbeds of New England, New York, New Jersey, and Philadelphia, the league drew crowds of one to three thousand and few paid much attention to it.

In 1959, a team called Colombo, based out of Staten Island, NY, joined the ASL. For the three seasons before, New York Hakoah won the ASL championship. For the four seasons after, the Ukrainian Nationals of Philadelphia won the ASL Championship. Between these periods of single team dominance and led by veteran player-coach Jack Hynes, Colombo would win the league in 1959-60, their only season of play, go on tour of Italy and subsequently disappear.

Jack Hynes

A Brief History of Jack Hynes

Jack Hynes played in the ASL for 23 seasons. Born in Scotland, his family moved to the United States when he was 13. He began playing professionally for Brooklyn St. Mary's Celtic in 1935 at the age of 15. In the 1938 National Challenge Cup (now the U.S. Open Cup) final, Brooklyn St. Mary's Celtic by Chicago Sparta 3-0 in Chicago with Hynes coming on late for Brooklyn when he was only 17.

He joined the US Army during World War II and was injured in the Battle of the Bulge in 1944. That injury left him with shrapnel in both legs and no feeling in his left calf. After leaving the military in 1946, he returned to playing soccer again.

In 1949, Jack was the key piece for the attack of the New York Americans. He led the team in goals and helped them advance to the ASL championship where they lost to the Philadelphia Nationals. Jack was also a pivotal part of the United States World Cup qualifications in 1949. The team was in group nine with Mexico and Cuba. Jack played the full ninety minutes in each of the four matches helping to advance to the 1950 World Cup, but was left off of the World Cup squad when he criticized the team selection for the qualification matches.

He continued to play in the ASL after his National Team fall out. In 1956 he received the ASL MVP award at the age of 36 while playing with Brooklyn Hakoah. In the fall of 1959, he joined Colombo as a player-coach.

Colombo: 1959-1960 Season

Colombo was a dominant team. In a league that contained US National Team greats like Benny McLaughlin, they finished the season after 18 games with 15 wins and a +45 goal difference. Their team contained Americans and international players from Europe and South America.

Anthony Bonezzi was an Argentine midfielder that played for both the United States and Israel's national teams in 1961. Carlos Bustamente was a US striker that teamed with Bonezzi on Colombo, Brooklyn Italians, and Israeli teams. In 1959, just prior to joining Colombo, he was a part of the Montreal Canadian Alouettes FC which won Canada's title, the Carling's Red Cap Trophy. These players would go on to finish second and third in goals, with teammate Mario Zelaschi placing fourth. All three combined for 35 goals that season when the league average was 34.7 goals. Of the ten teams, those three players out scored eight of them.

During this time, the ASL gave two points for a win and one for a tie. Colombo finished in first with 31 points and Ukrainian Nationals finished with 26 in under 20 matches.

Other notable players: 

• Joe Corbo (Germany)

• John Comazo (Italy)

• Peter Tagios

• Luiz Sansone (Argentina)

Manager: Peter Castelli

Owner: Luigi DiFilippo

Final Standings G  W T  L GF GA  PTS

Colombo 18 15  1 2 70   25 31

Ukrainian Nationals 16 12  2 2 49   21 26

New York Hakoah 16  7 4   5 31 22    18

Brooklyn Italians 15  7 1   7 30 25    15

Baltimore Pompeii 13  6 1   6 34 27    13

Fall River SC 13  5 3   5 26 27    13

Galicia SC 16  4 5   7 32 40    13

Newark Portuguese16  5 2   9 24 39    12

Falcons SC 16  3 3  10 25  52 9

Uhrik Truckers 17  2 2  13 26  69 6

ASL Leading Scorers (Through March 20, 1960)

M. Noga, Ukrainian Nationals 16

Ch. Bustamante, Colombo 14

A. Bonezzi, Colombo 12

M. Zelaschi, Colombo 9

William Silva, Fall River 9

M. Dellatorre, Brooklyn Ital. 8

Swinsky, Baltimore Pompeii 8

P. Peppe, Newark Portuguese 7

R. Sneddon, Newark Portuguese 7

Italy Tour

After the season ended, the team took a playing tour of Italy. Not much can be found about the tour.

Colombo Is No More

Information on why the team was disbanded is hard to find. Jack Hynes retired at he end of the 1959-60 season and became a successful coach as he led Monsignor Farrell Lions to not lose a single match during the seasons from 1987-1994. Bonezzi and Bustamente went to play for Beitar Tel Aviv in Israel. They were banned after playing their first match due to Israel’s no foreign players rule but were later reinstated. In 1967, they were both in an accident which left Bustamante permanently injured and killed Bonezzi. Mr. DiFilippo continued his tailoring business in New York for the next 45 years.

- Andy Rittenhouse

Matthew J. Boxer: The Story of Mercury AC and Boxer Stadium at Balboa Park (SF), 1917 -1992

For most of Europe, the Great War ended in 1918, but the after effect carried on for years—this upheaval in social and economic stability caused individuals and families from all over Europe to find their way to the United States looking for a fresh start. For US cities, this meant an influx of immigrants and with them, their cultures and heritage. San Francisco was no exception, and while soccer had been established as early as the 1890s in the Bay Area, this wave of immigration brought an injection of enthusiasm and talented young players. By the mid-1920s The SFSFL (San Francisco Soccer Football League), founded in 1902, had so many new players that they had to restructure the league into divisions with promotion and relegation to accommodate all the clubs.

New teams like Viking AC, Teutonia, Rovers, and Mercury AC mixed it up with the established clubs like Union Iron Works, Olympic Club, Thistle FC and Vampires. It was in 1923 that one of these new clubs, Mercury AC, was founded by three Russian immigrants; Alex Belely, Fred Garbachoff, and Gene Sarabun, who left Europe during the Bolshevik uprising and ensuing Russian Civil War. That same year, 5,600 miles away in Irkutsk, Siberia, Matthew Jacob Boxer was being spirited away from his home—first by ox-cart, then by foot and finally by train to escape the Russian Civil War, which had finally caught up to the region. The “Reds,” who were the uprising minority had taken it upon themselves to shoot anyone on sight who they felt were “whites.” Typically, the whites would be considered the officers, bourgeoisie, and obvious anti-Bolshevik political groups but sometimes it was also just groups who felt the reds were too drastic.

Advert in local paper for Mercury AC’s next match against Olympic Club (CSU newspaper Archives)

Matthew’s parents, Jacob Paul Boxer and Hannah Abramovna Granitsky, were targets of the reds and were forced to leave their home with only the clothes on their backs. It took 9 months for 10-year-old Matt and his parents to arrive in Shanghai, and to the best of our knowledge, he lived there for nearly 7 years before heading to San Francisco, on board the vessel Shanyu Maru, in 1930. Matthew likely settled into life in The City, found employment and made friends with other immigrants and refugees playing soccer in the various places it was available. Places like Old Central Park at 8th & Market, Tobin Field at 12th & Mission, USF Field on Parker & Turk or Memorial Field on Van Ness and Hayes Street. Sometimes a team would have to take a ferry across the bay to catch a match in Oakland or even in Alameda. In 1932, Boxer joined up with Mercury AC, which was very likely the neighborhood club for him—its imaginable that when his family arrived from Russia, by way of China, they sought out people like themselves and Mercury AC were very well supported by the Russian community of San Francisco.

Multi-Purpose Fields off Van Ness (Photo: SFSFL Social Media)

Mercury AC and Matthew J Boxer became inexorably linked—one was synonymous to the other and that would go on for over a half-century. During this time, Mercury was the longest-running side in San Francisco to operate under the same name; they became a powerhouse due to the financial support from the Russian community. In just his second year with the club, they swept through the second division and earned promotion to the first in San Francisco. Just a couple years later, he met his sweetheart Marjorie C. Teffault, and on July 15, 1939 he married her. Matt played a few more years for the club, during which time they were always competing for the top but never won it—in the early 1940s, he quit playing, graduated from Heald Business School, and took up managing both Mercury AC as well as his own small appliance shop in the city.

Matthew Boxer (front row, suit and tie, hand on the cup) and his SFSFL Championship winning team of 1947-48 (Photo: SFSFL Social Media)

Early on, Boxer built the team around young players and encouraged established players to take on the role of leaders and on the pitch trainers. Guys like Fred Albright, Otto Krawets, Louis Silber, and Carl Wolters helped Mercury AC earn their first SFSFL title in 1947-48. Things were great, that same year his wife Marjorie gave birth to his son Perry Matthew Boxer. Thanks to the ongoing support from their tightly-knit community, Boxer and Mercury were able to drum up finances to keep the club operating in the black; holding fundraisers at their Mercury Hall Clubhouse. They won the league again in 1955-56 and this time on a beautiful field, which would eventually have his name on it, at Balboa Park.

Grand Opening Program for Balboa Park Soccer Stadium (SFSFL Social Media)

From the moment he arrived in San Francisco, Boxer saw that the playing conditions for the league were poor and inconsistent from location to location. Additionally, the sport was growing in massive popularity outside of the city, in places like Sacramento, San Jose and even in Southern California, it would be great to have a facility which they could call home and one that met the standards high enough to host state tournaments or even international friendlies. Matthew became an advocate for a soccer specific stadium in San Francisco and helped push for just such a building at 166 Havelock Street. In September of 1953 the Balboa Park Soccer Stadium opened and concrete bleachers were added after $150,000 Proposition G passed just a couple months later; likely he had a hand in that too. As time would go by, Matthew Boxer would become well-known for his ability to advocate for his sport and help get projects underway.

Advert in local paper for an international friendly between Swedish club AIK Solna vs San Francisco’s Best XI (CSU Newspaper Archives)

By the end of the 1950s, Boxer had been appointed President of SFFA (San Francisco Football Association), CSAN (California Soccer Association North) and even selected as an administrator for the USSF (United States Soccer Federation); sources differ between “Junior Soccer Commissioner” or simply “Vice-President.” Whichever title it was, Matt had earned promotion after promotion in the world of US Soccer and was duly inducted in the US Soccer Hall of Fame in 1961, he was 44 years old. He still worked for Mercury as well, as the owner and operator of the club at this point; unfortunately, by the end of the 1960s and into the 70s, the ethnic community began to blend into the diverse fabric of the city. Less talented young players were available, maybe more of them pursued American Football, which was fast becoming king, baseball or even local basketball programs might have attracted the youth players. The financial support also waned and in 1980 a decline was painfully obvious.

Matthew Boxer serving as an administrator welcomes players and dignitaries to Balboa Park Soccer Stadium (Photo: OpenSFHistory.org)

With a lack of investment and talent, Mercury AC fell through to the bottom of the second division and by the end of the 1984-85 season, they found themselves relegated to the third division. It was at this point that they packed it up, and the club ceased operations. Matt wasn’t ready to quit his career in management though; that same year, he ran for and won the office of Mayor of Millbrae, California, which was about 12 miles south of San Francisco. He and Marjorie had been raising their family in the town of about 20,000 and he was already involved in the community as president of the Lion’s Club. He served in this capacity for just a couple of years but was still connected to the league too.

1991 should have been a year of celebration, San Francisco’s department of Recreation and Parks renamed the Balboa Park Soccer Stadium in his honor; tragically though, his son Perry died that same year at just 42 years-old. No more than a year later, Matthew J Boxer passed away in 1992—he was 75. Marjorie passed away in 2003 and they were survived by their daughters Paula and Pamela and 7 grandchildren. His legacy endures at Matthew J Boxer Soccer Stadium in Balboa Park, which continues to be the spiritual home of SFSFL and most soccer in the city—some city sides like Olympic Club and SF Vikings still play their soccer there. Some former SFSFL teams have moved up to larger, national leagues, like El Farolito and East Bay/Oakland Stompers (formerly San Francisco Stompers) but still play league matches at the stadium from time-to-time.

The Department of Recreation and Parks manages Boxer Stadium (Photo: SF Dept Recreation and Parks)

After over a century of soccer in San Francisco, the future looks as bright as ever, and it very well may involve this legendary soccer specific stadium. The United States Soccer Federation has won the bid to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup and San Francisco is looking to renovate one or two sites to host a visiting national team or two and provide training grounds. The historic Kezar Stadium, a century-old American Football stadium and Boxer Stadium are at the top of the list for high-end upgrades. The neighborhood surrounding Kezar has voiced opposition due to concerns over parking and noise issues. However, Boxer is well-regarded because its infrastructure and layout has always been soccer-specific—less work will have to be done to create a modern soccer complex in the heart of The City. I’m sure if Matthew was alive, he’d be in attendance to any committee he could to advocate for this to happen, let’s hope the officials San Francisco has now have the same passion for the sport and the city that Boxer had.

- Joshua Duder

The rolling hills and iconic neighborhoods of San Francisco can be seen from the main stands of Boxer Stadium (Photo: SFSFL Social Media)

Sources:

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Soccer-fever-in-S-F-is-not-new-outbreak-2830188.php

https://www.sfgate.com/sports/slideshow/Bay-Area-sports-landmarks-178600.php

http://opensfhistory.org/

http://www.ussoccerhistory.org/national-soccer-hall-of-fame-biographies/national-soccer-hall-of-fame-builders-biographies/matt-boxer/

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/86465663/matthew-jacob-boxer

http://www.sfexaminer.com/district-supervisor-hopes-renovate-boxer-stadium-time-2026-world-cup/

https://sfrecpark.org/destination/boxer-stadium/

http://www.sfsfl.com/

1923 - 1924 National Challenge Cup: Looking Into the Past

It’s dangerous to talk history sometimes. Those that love the subject are passionate about it and if you screw up, they will let you know about it. So I’m prefacing this short piece by saying I’m not an expert, just a guy who loves history, particularly American soccer history. Also, and this is sincere, if you’re a historian, we welcome your two cents.

The footage isn’t that great, honestly. It’s presented without commentary or sound (sound wouldn’t come to movies for another 3 years) - just barely over 30 seconds of video. It begins with a marching band crossing a field, a large crowd in the background. The next shot is of the Vesper Buick soccer team, standing in line with a line judge (flag in hand). That’s followed with a similar panning shot of Fall River, their kits stitched with the “FR" for their hometown. In the back, you can see a gum-chewing Findlay Kerr (he’s easily identified in his white sweater, traditional wear for keepers in that era ). A crowd shot, showing a large group of people (reports from the time give the attendance as 15,000), mostly men dressed in the era’s style - suits, hats of all sorts, overcoats. Then some game action - which is certainly slower than the modern game, the players more stationary and the ball in the air more than the ground. Then a quick bit of action in the box that (according to wikipedia) shows a hand ball that resulted in the first goal of the match (though the PK isn’t shown). And that’s it.

It’s been talked about on Deadspin, MLS.com, and a host of smaller sites. What it is is the oldest surviving footage of a soccer match in the United States.

Perhaps the oldest extant professional U.S. soccer footage--snippets from the 1924 U.S. Open Cup final, played on March 30, 1924. Fall River Marksmen, champions of the American Soccer League, travelled to St. Louis to face Vesper Buick, champions of the St. Louis Soccer League.

You’ve probably seen it before, but if you haven’t, take 30 seconds and watch it. Then watch it again. That’s soccer royalty right there. That 1924 National Challenge Cup final marked the beginning of an impressive run by Fall River, who would win four over the next seven years (1924, 1927, 1930, 1931). But both these clubs were short lived in their dominance and lifespan.

Vesper Buick is certainly the shorter lived of the two, only playing four seasons in St. Louis. Much has been made of the St. Louis soccer scene and the history goes back into the first decade of last century. In 1924, Vesper Buick won the Saint Louis Soccer League in a shortened season of only 13 matches, going 9-2-2. Their path through the Challenge Cup was smooth sailing until the final, winning the matches with a combined score of 18-3. The teams they beat are a throwback to the era: Scullin Steel, Harmarville Consumers, Goodyear Tire FC, Bricklayers and Masons. Going into the final, Vesper had every reason to feel confident, considering their track record of demolishing opponents. And while we know the history of Fall River now, this was their first entry into the National final.

The Marksmen would only exist for 10 dominant years before being renamed, then moved, and eventually collapsing in the 1930s. But this year’s club was at the height of their excellence. Much like Vesper Buick had cut through their competition in the National Challenge Cup, Fall River’s path through the competition was almost as impressive. Their big challenge was in the quarters and semis. In the quarterfinal, they played Abbot Worsted (also known as Forge Villagers), a club that always contended (though never won) for the National Challenge Cup during the 1920s. Fall River beat them 2-1 and advanced to a semifinal matchup with a club they knew very well, Bethlehem Steel. Fall River and Bethlehem Steel were the dominant teams in the American Soccer League. When Sam Mark took over Fall River, he swiped Bethlehem’s keeper, Findlay Kerr, and several other players in an effort to gain dominance in the league. This matchup of two giants took place on March 9th, 1924 in Brooklyn, New York. These clubs played many matches against each other in the ASL regular season, but this matchup was a big one. Reported attendance for this match was 20,000, though that figure has been contested by some historians. Needless to say, beating their arch rivals 2-0 to advance to the Cup Final was a big deal.

The final was a high-scoring affair, with the first half ending 1-1. Fall River had jumped out to a quick lead with a Fred Morley goal, but a handball by defender Alex Kemp led to an equalizing penalty kick by Tom Harris. The second half began the same way the first had begun with another Morley goal. A minute later, Vesper Buick equalized. Fall River would complete the scoring with a goals from Johnny Reid and Harold Brittan. The 1923-1924 National Challenge Cup ended with Fall River taking home the trophy 4-2.

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The goal of this article was to share that footage, but also to give context to it. Viewed without connection it loses some of its shine. Hopefully this article helps fill some gaps in the story. The fact that a clip from this match actually exists is impressive. Consider that soccer would soon fade from national interest and the clubs and leagues involved would collapse. Of course, the National Challenge Cup would rebrand and continue, but preservation and maintaining the history of the sport was ignored until it was too late. No doubt there was much more footage from this match, but let’s be thankful for the 30 seconds we got! The rest has faded into history. It’s a window into the past and fleshes out the boxscore. It should be cherished, celebrated, and canonized. It’s a look into a past when soccer dominated the sports landscape in this country.

If you are a family member of a player from the past and would like to share your photos or stories, reach out to us at contact@protagonistsoccer.com. We value the history of this great game.

If you are a historian, we’d love to hear from you as well. This clip wouldn’t be public without the work you do. Shoot us an email and give us what you have! We’d love to share the knowledge you have with our readers.

Thanks to The Cup.US who do amazing work and helped shape this article.

- Dan Vaughn

Doris Clark’s Eleven

Oak Park was Sacramento’s first suburb, sub-divided and developed in 1887—by the 1910s it was connected directly to Downtown Sacramento by multiple streetcars and attracted the California State Fairgrounds. It became a destination neighborhood by boasting “no city taxes” and had a thriving social scene at the titular park on 8th and Sacramento Boulevard. In 1913, according to Sacramento Union archives, the city appointed a young Miss Doris Clark to become its Student Assistant of Parks, at a pay rate of $510 a year.

Scouring the online archives of the Sacramento Union, a defunct local newspaper, shows as many posts about her social activities as it has regarding her successes on the pitch. For the first few years as a Parks Assistant, she oversaw archery events, hiking, track and field, as well as helping to set up popular outdoor music events in Oak Park. Miss Doris Clark even participated in these events from time to time as a member of a quartet. It seems that by late 1915 or early 1916 she had earned herself a promotion and moved north three miles to McKinley Park on the corner of Alhambra and McKinley Boulevards.

The Gateway to the Oak Park neighborhood near Sacramento, California

It was here, at McKinley Park that she really took off and by all accounts, she was very well regarded; even her vacations to Yosemite in 1916 and to Lake Tahoe in 1917, would eventually be newsworthy. However, it was her continued efforts in her local park position that earned her the most attention. Even Spalding’s 1919-20 edition noted her efforts in a piece titled Women Taking Up the Kicking Game, “Soccer Football is about the most strenuous of athletic games. Its forty-five-minute halves are marked by practically continuous action in which every member of each team is on his toes, but that doesn’t seem to keep the girls out. In Sacramento, California, Miss Doris Clark is the manager, and a very successful one, of the McKinley Park Football Club. The only lady manager of a club affiliated with the United States Football Association.”

In their book, Women’s Soccer: The Passionate Game, Barbara Stewart and Helen Stoumbos tell us that “Women were on the periphery of soccer from the beginning. In part, because public schools were for men only, but as well, polite society at the time frowned on women who engaged in strenuous exercise. Doctors believed such activity could injure the reproductive system or simply make women too manly to have children.” From the sources available, there’s no evidence to point to Doris Clark having experience on the pitch but once she moved from Oak Park to McKinley Park, she took up the role of managing the competitive soccer team associated with that neighborhood. Stewart and Stoumbos go on to tell us, “At any time when women’s team sports such as baseball and hockey were being played across America, women’s soccer made inroads. Women were being accepted as part of the game, and several colleges picked it up as a regular sport. In 1920, a woman named Doris Clark became manager of the McKinley Park Football Club in Sacramento. She was the first woman to hold such a position with a sanctioned team.”

Excerpt from Spalding’s Soccer Football Guide, 1919-1920

From 1916 to 1919, Doris continued to organize seasonal and social events at McKinley Park, and she also managed the young men’s soccer team there. They dominated teams called Acorns, Grass Valley and Rovers—they even travelled to San Francisco to compete in the state cup. One Sacramento Union article from December 19, 1918 tells us, “Despite adverse conditions of weather and facing influenza, soccer is in full swing with spirited contests each Sunday… On Christmas day, the McKinley team will clash with Grass Valley… Miss Doris Clark, who has the local club in charge, expects her boys to win, although, she says the Grass Valley boys can play some football.”

While there are several notes and articles to share from the Sacramento Union’s archives regarding Miss Clark, it’s important to note that Stewart and Stoumbos’ assertion Clark took up the position in 1920 is incorrect—she resigned in 1919 after six years working between Oak and McKinley Parks. There’s no reason given, but the last piece I can find speaking to Doris’ activities says she “has tended her resignation to superintendent George Kim, to take effect July 20 (1919). Miss Clark has been very active in her work and was manager of the winning soccer team there last season. Before going to McKinley Park she served at Oak Park Playground.” Judging from her vacations spent in the outdoors and her success at throwing events at the parks, I can only venture to guess that she moved on to a similar parks position somewhere else; perhaps someday we’ll find an ending more befitting the first USSF sanctioned woman manager.

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- Joshua Duder

The Importance of Memory

You know what scares me? Spiders, sharks, snakes, and bears, obviously. But more from an existential angst angle - being forgotten. Regardless of your belief about what happens when you die, we can look around this world and see what death will bring for all of us. At first, your family and friends will mourn your passing and feel the absence you have left, but over time you will fade from their thoughts. Soon, you will be a name on a family tree, grandchildren will scratch their head when they spot you in pictures, not sure who you are. Eventually, those pictures will fade, of course. And in 100 years, you will be gone. Very few of us make a mark large enough to outlive the darkening that comes with passing time.

And this is not to say that this process is bad. It is what it is.

But that thought, of eventually being nothing more than a lost memory, terrifies me. In my own life, I have see this process. I had a younger brother, David. He was my best friend throughout my early life, particularly during my teens. I did nothing that David was not a part of. Then, when I was 21, in college, my brother, 19, died suddenly. It was a gut-wrenching experience. But after the shock of his exit, a numbing occurred - life had to go on. Classes and girlfriends, work and friends, each item took a bit of focus and blurred the absence of my brother. Now, some 20 years later, I often say that he is as dead as George Washington - meaning that he is a name and a face, but not much more than that. The years have layered memories that obscure his passing. It was inevitable.

Every person reading this article has gone through this experience or will someday. People die. Other people live.

I’ve written before about the Fall River Marksmen and the old American Soccer League several times, but, for those unfamiliar, here’s the elevator pitch. The ASL was the dominant soccer league in the northeast United States from 1921 to the early 30’s. Clubs like Bethlehem Steel and Fall River dominated the league and the National Challenge Cup (eventually renamed the US Open Cup). The best players in the country played in this league. It outdrew baseball teams at the time. And then, it all ended.

In preparation for this column, I’ve been researching a player from that era. While I am not going to be talking too much about that process (there will be an article eventually), I do want to scrape the surface to make a point. Because Fall River Marksmen is such an interesting story to me, I decided to pick a player to research. As I dug into this player’s life, I realized how little is known about these players. They came and went from the soccer world. Like all professional players, they eventually retired and went on to live their lives, had families, got day jobs - they moved on.

And the country moved on as well. Other sports began to dominate the conversation. The rise of the NFL, MLB, and the NBA relegated soccer to a marginalized space. Sure, people played the sport but it no longer dominated headlines. The names of players from the ASL era were almost completely forgotten. And sadly, USSF seems completely unconcerned about preserving this history. MLS has become the dominate brand of the sport and the only focus of those in power. Leagues that came before are almost entirely ignored, as if soccer began in this country in the mid 90s. In fact, American soccer might be the only major sport that refuses to celebrate its history in any meaningful way.

This indifference has meant that memorabilia, memories, the players are almost all gone. I can’t imagine how difficult it would be to be the dominant player of a generation and then to be forgotten for the rest of your life. We see athletes struggle with adjusting to regular life all the time, but this group of players has been almost entirely erased from soccer consciousness. The old black and white photos cry out for attention, but for many time has erased any memory of the players beyond box scores.

I have been known to question the methods and style of Pro/Rel advocates online, but that group should be celebrated for its focus on the rich soccer history of this country. Focusing on that history is important, even vital, for the long-term success and sustainability of the game in this country. Pretending that MLS is something without precedent ignores the lessons that could be learned from the leagues that came before. The success of the NASL in the late 60s and early 70s dwarfs the crowds that MLS regularly draws now, even 25 years since founding. Go back and watch the videos of the Cosmos from that era, you see a league that captured the imagination of the country. This should be celebrated, not ignored.  And, more importantly, lessons should be drawn to replicate that success.

So this column is a chance to fight the dust of age. If you’re a fan of soccer in this country, it’s time to become a historian as well. It’s time to celebrate the clubs of the past because they contributed to what we have today. We’ll be doing that here at Protagonist (just wait till you see some of these stories!), but it’s time to for the entire American soccer community to begin preserving the past. If the Federation won’t, then we will. We will not forget.

-Dan Vaughn

The Cannibal Club and the Search for Soccer Immortality

For the rest of our spooky, soccer-themed Halloween content, hit up our homepage for Cracking the Crypt!

“Remarkable boy. I do admire your courage. I think I'll eat your heart.” - Hannibal Lecter, Red Dragon

One of the oldest taboos in the world, cannibalism has been practiced throughout time and all over the world. The act of eating human flesh and organs has appeared in various folk tales such as “Hansel and Gretel” and even in Greek mythology with the story of Thyestes, whose son was eaten by his brother and king Atreus. In various lore, the act of eating another human being was even thought as a way to gain strength and knowledge from the one consumed, and one could even attain immortality.

As we travel into modern society the idea of cannibalism is the one of grim tales and blockbuster movies. But what about in our sport of soccer? Not the idea of eating other humans, but the idea of one soccer club consuming another to gain strength and dominance in competition. Enter the Los Angeles Kickers, whose quest for national glory and soccer immortality saw the consumption of four different clubs. While, still in existence to this day, they are a former shell of what they have accomplished in the past. A  team whose strong success led to many titles and whose players have etched themselves in American soccer history.

The Kickers were founded in 1951 by a few German-Americans, most notably Albert Ebert and Fritz Ermit. They entered the crowded Los Angeles market and joined the Greater Los Angeles Soccer league or GLASL. While they found state and national success, the GLASL title eluded them. Then in 1963 the Kickers would absorb their first club, Los Angeles Victoria, and the dynasty was born. The Kickers, or sometimes referred to as LA-KV, won the GLASL league title in 1963, 1964, and 1965. Feeding off their league success in '63 and '64 the Kickers consumed Germania SC in 1965 and rebranded as the Los Angeles Soccer Club. After their title in '65 the Kickers began to fade from prominence. In an attempt to achieve glory once again, the Los Angeles Soccer Club consumed the Hollywood Stars SC in 1972 and then Almenia '69 in 1975, but they never achieved the success they once had.

The Kickers are one of the most decorated clubs in American soccer history. They won their first state title in 1956, five years after conception, and then won it from 1958 to 1965. During that seven year time period they went on to win their three league titles and two U.S. Open Cup titles. They appeared in the three open cup finals: the first in 1958 where they beat Baltimore Pompei 2-1, they lost to the Philadelphia Ukrainian Nationals in 1960 with a scoreline of 5-3 and got revenge in 1964 by beating the Ukranians 4-2. In 1964 the Kickers would go on to have one of the greatest seasons of American soccer history winning four titles: the GLASL league title, the Douglas Cup (Southern California), the Cal State Cup and the U.S. Open Cup.

With help from the Los Angeles Kickers, Southern California became a hotbed for soccer. Teams from all over the world, like Manchester United and 1860 Munich would come down to play in front of large crowds and often against the Los Angeles competition. In 1963, the Kickers would even go on an overseas tour to places like New Zealand, Australia and even played against Eintracht Frankfurt in front of 1500 German fans at the Riederwaldstadion, a stadium that was used by the Frankfurt U-23 until 2008.

The Kickers also contributed to the United States Men's National Team. Helmut Bicek earned five caps and two goals, including one goal in the 1965 2-2 tie against our biggest rival Mexico. Another Kicker Eberhard Herz earned one cap in World Cup qualification against Mexico. Herz also scored in the 1960 U.S. Open Cup final loss. One of the most famous Kickers was Willie Carson. While Carson only earned one cap with the USMNT, he was often the main source of goal scoring success for Los Angeles. He is known for his two goal game in the 1958 U.S. Open Cup final, but also had many multi-goal games in league play. Traverse old newspaper archives and his name is plastered throughout GLASL results. The other big name in Kicker's history is ten year captain Al Zerhusen, who earned at least 10 caps, played in the Pan-American games and even in the 1960 Olympics. Zerhusen was a high scoring midfielder who often won the GLASL golden boot.

Unfortunately most of the Kickers history has been lost with time and is often over-shadowed by the giants of East Coast soccer history. But unlike the many clubs from the East Coast who have faded away over time, the Kickers or the Los Angeles Soccer Club still exist to this day. While they may have achieved soccer immortality, their cannibalistic nature could not keep the club at the heights of glory and they remain a hollow shell of their past, but they live nonetheless.

The Kicks and a Minnesotan Soccer Spirit That Never Quite Died

Where do I begin with the Minnesota Kicks, an orange and blue-clad club that made Minnesota a core piece of the NASL long before the Stars or United would make even the slightest of marks in the 21st century?

The Kicks, who drew an average of 23,000 fans to Bloomington, Minnesota, were the state’s first proper professional soccer club and in turn its most memorable footprint on the beautiful game in the 20th century. Bringing international notables like Glasgow Rangers, Hammarby IF, and Ipswich Town to Met Stadium through the years, the boys in orange weren’t just part of another club from the golden age of the NASL, they made up one of the league’s great teams. Needless to say, the club- which started as a two-year flop in Denver known as the Denver Dynamos and recording a record of 14 wins and 28 losses -found its home in Minnesota.

When it comes to stats and basic history, the Kicks are famous for a variety of achievements ranging from a single game attendance of 49,572- a state record only recently broken by Minnesota United -to their long list of division and conference titles. It should be known that the Minnesota Kicks won their division four times in a row from 1976 to 1979. It may very well be, however, that there is a greater testament to the power of the Minnesota Kicks than what they accomplished on the pitch. That measurement is their ascension to an almost folklore-like existence in the consciousness of Minnesota soccer clubs and supporters young and old.

One can find references, dedications, and inspiration from the Minnesota Kicks at every corner of the beautiful game in the state of 10,000 lakes. From a Kicks-themed away kit for the 2011 Minnesota Stars to a dedication involving several former Kicks players at Minnesota United inaugural MLS home match in 2017, professional soccer in the state has never tried to run too far away from its roots. In anticipation for its attendance record-breaking match against the LA Galaxy, Minnesota United promoted the match with retro footage and images of the Kicks, a marketing plan which visibly won over the hearts of soccer fans who could remember Kicks games and young fans who were desperate for a glimpse into the blurred past of professional soccer in the United States.

The Kicks, who were quite cleverly named via a name-the-team contest, also find themselves the target of adoration from Minnesota’s modern-day lower league landscape. This is best shown by recent summer actions taken by Minneapolis City SC. Following the opening of its Club Shop, a wide variety of merchandise was sold that included homages to the NASL club, its kits, and its star players. City went as far as to briefly change its logo to one designed in dedication to the Kicks’ logo and invited Kicks players to the store’s grand opening.

The core story of the Kicks, like most from the original age of NASL, ends on a sad note. Following changes in ownership, changes within the NASL as a league, mixed results on the pitch, and financial roadblocks, the team found itself up for sale and missing a payment toward its players and staff at the end of the 1981 season. NASL Commissioner Phil Woosnam attempted to find a buyer for the club but was not able to do so, leading to the club’s exclusion from the 1981-82 NASL Indoor season. The club folded in December of 1981 and had its players released in a dispersal draft.

The Minnesota Kicks are no longer, and it’s been that way for quite some time, but that hasn’t stopped the boys in orange and blue from cementing themselves in the hearts and imaginations of Minnesota’s ever-growing crowd of soccer fans. From winks and nods by the Stars and United to open dedications at the history-making Minneapolis City SC Club Shop, the NASL may be dead and gone but the Kicks are very much alive, just not in the way you might expect.

- Dominic Bisogno

The Ghosts of Fall River

My theory on ghosts is that that they are lingering echoes from time gone by. Not necessarily spirits or spectral beings, but just regular people, like you and I, who are somehow reflecting across time, connected to a place in the world. Maybe that’s less spooky than imagining a haunting spirit in the mood for vengeance, but I’ve always seen it as slightly more scientific. Because the past certainly influences us in the present, from our genetics to our heritage to our national history. They are all aspects that have been shaped and molded by eras that are long gone and by thousands of people long dead. We may pretend that those who came before have no bearing on the here and now, but that doesn’t make them any less significant.

In Tiverton, Rhode Island, there’s a haunted house in the soccer neighborhood. A place where once there was a mighty force that dominated the soccer landscape for a decade. A mighty force that, ghostlike, haunts the dreams of all soccer fans in this country. Mostly in echoes, old fashioned names and grainy black and white images, dancing on the edges of our consciousness like a memory wanting to be remembered, but just out of reach. That place is now an overgrown field, an empty lot, really. Much like the memory of the club that once played there, nearly forgotten by the town that contains it. That place is Mark’s Stadium and the club that played there was the Fall River Marksmen.

The Fall River Marksmen began their storied life in 1922. Fall River United was purchased by Sam Mark and he renamed the club after himself (Mark’s Men = Marksmen). At that time, Fall River and neighboring Tiverton were full of fresh immigrant families, most of whom came to work in the booming textile industry in the area. In 1920, Fall River had over 100 textile factories in operation, making the city the largest textile producer in the United States.

All those mills required a tremendous amount of human labor and European immigrants flooded the market to take those jobs. They brought with them their love of soccer and the American Soccer League and clubs like Fall River United sprouted up to fill that need. Those ghostly clubs from that past era that we’ve heard of but never understood were, for the most part, rooted in these immigrant factory-based communities. The people in these cities supported the sport, filled the stands, and often produced the players. This was truly local soccer.

Prior to Sam Mark purchasing the club, Fall River United was a crap club. Its first year it finished sixth out of eight clubs in the inaugural ASL season. The club leader in goals only had six (Jack Corrigan), and the club tripled that number in the loss category. It was a rough season and the club seemed destined to collapse as many of these start up clubs did that first year (three others disbanded). With the club in a perilous situation, Sam Mark stepped in to save the day. A local businessman who was born in Fall River, he felt that investing in the club could yield some results and he did just that.

Other soccer clubs in that era were drawing 10,000 a match. That might seem like a small number but consider that in 1921 the Boston Red Sox were drawing less than 2,000 fans a game in their new home, Fenway Park. In terms of attendance, soccer was the best attended sport in the United States. Mark knew that if he could turn the club around, he could draw a crowd and, of course, make money.

His first move was renaming the club; shake the dust off and move forward. Next he began building a stadium for his new club. It might be a surprise to some that the stadium site was across the river in Rhode Island, in Tiverton, but Sam had a plan. Massachusetts at the time (some still exist) had strict “blue laws” which restricted  business operations on Sundays. Those laws included soccer matches, so Mark, like any businessman, found a better option that would allow him to run his business on whatever day he chose. To do that, he built his new stadium in Tiverton, RI, close enough to draw crowds from Fall River, but just clear of those pesky blue laws. He named his new 15,000 seat stadium Mark’s Stadium.

Now that the club had been rebranded and moved into a new home, it was time to restructure the play on the field. The first move was to bring on multiple players from the Scottish Leagues (this would cause problems later on). The big signing, however, came from another ASL club: Bethlehem Steel. Mark signed Harold Brittan, a former Chelsea player who had scored 24 goals for Bethlehem the year before. His offense was sure to bring change to the 18 loss club.

The 1923 season showed instant improvement for Fall River. Brittan delivered on his promise, scoring 19 goals and pushing the club to third in the league. The next season Mark invested in the roster again and the club improved- winning the double -both the ASL and the National Challenge Cup (what’s now called the U.S. Open Cup). The semifinal match of the Challenge Cup, where Fall River would face league rivals Bethlehem Steel, drew an estimated 20,000. That 1924 season would be the beginning of a decade of dominance for the Fall River Marksmen. The club won six league titles and four National Challenge Cup competitions. But all ghost stories contain tragedy and the story of Fall River is no exception.

While the American Soccer League had done well for most of the 1920s, the next decade would bring trouble for the league. The Great Depression greatly reduced the amount of disposable income in the country and most leagues struggled. To magnify the financial problems, the ASL had placed most of its clubs in manufacturing centers. Much of that manufacturing slowed or died during the economic downturn, creating mass unemployment. Even worse, there was a wave of anti-immigrant hysteria in the country and soccer was seen as a foreign sport. These outside pressures sparked infighting between the league clubs. The final nail was FIFA pressuring the USFA (now USSF) to sanction the ASL, due to its raiding of European leagues and ignoring existing club contracts. In 1933, the greatest American soccer league- one that had dominated the national soccer culture, crushed visiting foreign clubs, gobbled up players from around the world, and won the battle for sports fans in the country -collapsed.

Fall River Marksmen disbanded and the players were absorbed into the few surviving clubs that remained. Sam Mark moved to California to pursue other business opportunities. Mark’s Stadium was used by other clubs over the next couple of decades, before being turned into a drive-in theater. That theater was eventually torn down in the 1970s. Now there’s nothing but an empty field, overgrown with weeds and scrub trees; a ghostly symbol of what once was.

For the most part, the ghosts of Fall River barely touch the awareness of modern American soccer fans. Most fans began their awareness in the 1990s with the emergence of MLS. Some older groups may remember the 1970s and the NASL, Pele and the Cosmos, but almost no one goes back to the old American Soccer League. The Marksmen were the greatest of a generation, maybe the greatest American soccer team of all-time in their brief heyday. Their memory has become the thing of legends and myths, almost unbelievable. But their ghosts linger, begging to be remembered.

- Dan Vaughn

Many thanks to TheCup.US for their amazing work, telling the story of soccer in this country. Their articles on Fall River Marksmen were used as sources in the writing of this article. I highly recommend their site if you want to go down the rabbit hole of US soccer history.