The Chicago Falcons were an American soccer team which won the 1953 National Challenge Cup, the precursor to the US Open Cup, and also participated in the Chicago-area National Soccer League in the 1950s. [1]
The Falcons won promotion to the NSL Major Division from the NSL First Division in 1952, the year they won the first of their two Peel Cup titles. In their first season in the Major Division, they finished second to the Ukrainian Lions. They also won their second consecutive Peel Cup in 1953. [2] They played in the NSL's first division to at least 1956, but were no longer in the league by 1959. [3] The Falcons also participated in the National Amateur Cup in 1952. [4]
The Falcons beat the Harmarville Hurricanes in the 1953 National Challenge Cup final 3–0 on aggregate having defeated Kutis of St. Louis to make the finals. [5] Kutis won the first leg of the Western Final 3–0 in St. Louis, but were found to have illegally registered two players. [6] The tie was reduced to a single leg which the Falcons won 2–1, apparently played in St. Louis' North Side Arena. [7]
After their cup win, the Falcons played Canadian champions New Westminster, losing 5–0. [8]
Adelaide City Football Club is a soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia. The club was known historically as Juventus — the original name given to the club by its founders in Adelaide's Italian community.
Harry Joseph Keough was an American soccer defender who played on the United States national team in their 1–0 upset of England at the 1950 FIFA World Cup. He spent most of his club career in his native St. Louis, winning a national junior championship, two National Challenge Cup and seven National Amateur Cup titles. He coached the Saint Louis University men's soccer team to five NCAA Men's Soccer Championships. The Keough Award, named after him, his brother Bill, and his son Ty Keough, is presented each year to the outstanding St. Louis–based male and female professional or college soccer player.
Parramatta Football Club, commonly known as Parramatta Melita Eagles or just Melita, are a semi-professional Australian soccer club based in South Granville, New South Wales. The club was established by Maltese migrants in 1956 and played several seasons in the National Soccer League, winning the NSL Cup twice. Later they were in the New South Wales Premier League, which the club won on six occasions. The club currently competes in the NSW League Two.
Falcons 2000 Soccer Club is an Australian semi-professional soccer club based in the regional Victorian city of Morwell in Latrobe Valley, Gippsland. The club currently participates in the Latrobe Valley Soccer League, currently rated as a Tier 9 league.
Brooklyn Celtic was a name used by at least two U.S. soccer teams. The first was an early twentieth century amateur team which was formed in August 1910 and dominated the New York Amateur Association Football League from 1912 to 1917. The second was a member of the professional American Football League in the 1930s and early 1940s. A third Celtic club from Brooklyn, St. Mary's Celtic replaced the second club in the ASL before the 1935/36 season.
The Peter J. Peel Challenge Cup, better known as the Peel Cup, was an open soccer competition that crowned the Illinois state champion until it was replaced by the Illinois Governor’s Cup in 1971.
Bill Looby was an American soccer forward who spent his entire career in the St. Louis Leagues. He was a member of the U.S. Olympic soccer team at the 1956 Summer Olympics and earned nine caps, scoring six goals, with the United States men's national soccer team between 1954 and 1959. He was a member of the 1959 Bronze medal Pan American Team scoring 6 goals in those games as well. Looby is a member of the Saint Louis Soccer Hall of Fame and the National Soccer Hall of Fame.
Ruben Michael Mendoza was an American soccer forward who was a dominant player in the St. Louis leagues during the 1950s and 1960s. He earned four caps with the U.S. national team and was a member of the 1952, 1956 and 1960 U.S. Olympic teams.
The National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) was a North American professional soccer league that existed for only the 1967 season before merging with the United Soccer Association (USA) to form the North American Soccer League. It was a "wild league", i.e. unlike its competitor, the USA, not associated with FIFA. It had ten charter members, nine from the United States and one from Canada. To encourage attacking play, the NPSL introduced a new standings points system that was later used by the NASL – 6 points for a win, 3 for a draw, 0 for a loss and 1 bonus point for each of the first three goals scored. The circuit's commissioner was Ken Macker, an American publisher of three Philippines-based newspapers. The name National Professional Soccer League was revived in 1990 and used by a United States professional indoor soccer league.
St. Louis Kutis Soccer Club, better known as St. Louis Kutis, is an amateur American soccer club in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1947 as the "St. Louis Raiders", the club was known as "Paul Schulte" during the 1948–49 season, "McMahon's" during the 1949–50 season and "Zenthoefer's" in the 1950–51 season. In 1953, the team was renamed "St. Louis Kutis". The club gained its greatest prominence in the 1950s when it dominated both St. Louis and national soccer competitions. In 1958, the United States Soccer Federation used Kutis, with a few guest players, as the U.S. national team in two World Cup qualifying matches.
Dennis "Denny" Vaninger is a former U.S. soccer forward who spent seven seasons in the North American Soccer League and at least two seasons in Major Indoor Soccer League. He earned three caps, scoring one goal, with the U.S. national team. He also won the 1971 U.S. Amateur Cup with St. Louis Kutis. He continues to coach youth soccer in his hometown of St. Louis, Missouri.
Rolf Decker is a retired German-American soccer player who played professionally with the New York Hakoah of the American Soccer League and earned four caps with the U.S. national team in between 1953 and 1956. He was a member of the U.S. Olympic soccer team at the 1956 Summer Olympics.
Herman William Wecke was a former U.S. soccer defender. He earned six caps with the U.S. national team between 1954 and 1957. He was a member of the U.S. Olympic soccer team at the 1956 Summer Olympics.
St. Louis Simpkins-Ford(also known as Simpkins) was a U.S. amateur soccer team based in St. Louis, Missouri from 1947 to 1956. It won three league championships and the 1948 and 1950 National Challenge Cups, and lost in the finals of the 1954 National Amateur Cup. Five members of the U.S. team at the 1950 FIFA World Cup came from Simpkins.
John Peter Traina is a retired American soccer player who spent most of his career playing in the St. Louis, Missouri leagues from 1950 to 1960. Traina earned five caps with the U.S. national team. He was inducted into the St Louis Hall Of fame in 1983, together with his brother Peter.
Lloyd Monsen is a retired American soccer forward and baseball pitcher. Monsen spent eleven seasons in the American Soccer League as well as several years in the lower division German American Soccer League and National Soccer League of New York. He earned three caps with the U.S. national team between 1952 and 1957 and was a member of the U.S. Olympic soccer teams at both the 1952 and 1956 Summer Olympics. He is a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame.
Ponta Delgada Soccer Club, also referred to as Fall River Ponta Delgada, was a United States soccer club, based in Fall River, Massachusetts. The club was formed by members of the city’s Portuguese community and shared its name with Ponta Delgada, the largest city of the Azores, an autonomous region of Portugal. During the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s they were one of the most successful amateur teams in the United States, winning the National Amateur Cup six times. In 1947 they won the first-ever National Challenge Cup / National Amateur Cup double. The same year their entire squad was selected en masse to represent the United States at the inaugural North American soccer championship. Between 1951 and 1953 they also played in the American Soccer League. They played some home games at Mark's Stadium in North Tiverton, Rhode Island, previously the home of Fall River F.C.. Like the 'Marksmen', they did this to avoid the Massachusetts Blue Laws that prevented them from playing Sunday games.
Jim Bokern is a retired U.S. soccer forward who played three seasons in the North American Soccer League. He then went on to coach at the high school, collegiate and amateur levels. He won a high school state title, three NCAA Division I, a National Amateur Cup, a National Challenge Cup, and two USSF Over-30 Cup championship as a player as well as two high school state titles, one National Challenge Cup championship, two U.S. U-20 Cup titles and two U.S. O-30 Cup titles as a coach.
The Harmarville Hurricanes were an amateur soccer club from Harmarville, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh, that twice won the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, known then as the National Challenge Cup, in 1952 and 1956. They also played in the Cup Final in 1953.
Soccer in St. Louis, which dates from 1882, includes pro, college, select and prep soccer teams in St. Louis, Missouri, collectively forming one of the nation's richest municipal soccer heritages.