Work ethic made Harmarville toast of U.S. soccer in 1950s

[Knave]

This is an old article that I posted on the daily MLS news thread some time ago. But now that this board is open I though it'd be good idea to give it a thread in its own right.

Anyone at all interested in the US Open Cup or the history of soccer in the USA will enjoy this article.

Work ethic made Harmarville toast of U.S. soccer in 1950s (http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/other/20030713opencup0713p4.asp) - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

http://www.post-gazette.com/images2/20030713lfcup13_230.jpg

[rymannryan]

Great story. Anyone who thinks soccer in American soccer has no history should read that.

[Dr. Wankler]

Originally posted by rymannryan
Great story. Anyone who thinks soccer in American soccer has no history should read that.

I've posted this link a couple of times whenever someone trotted out the "soccer in America is too suburban" or "soccer was never the blue-collar game in the US that it is in England" line of thinking. I clipped the article from the print edition, and I'm thinking of writing an article about those guys for a Western Pennsylvania magazine, too.

Of all the articles in the daily press this year, this one is my favorite.

[SABuffalo786]

Newspaper reports from the day estimated 5,000 fans attended the Sunday afternoon contest that decided the '56 Open Cup, lining up four-deep around Consumer Field.



*sigh*

If only....

[FlashMan]

Thanks for the article. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

For some reason it reminded me of the Fresno Fuego, just knocked out by the Galaxy, and the only fully amateur side left through the last round of the Cup. I was talking to a Fuego fan at the game and he said "the whole city" (surely a bit of hyperbole) had gotten behind the team because of their run through the Cup, wehre before practically no one knew they existed. They had gotten larger and larger crowds for some of their games, and when the two buses of supporters were getting ready to leave Fresno to go to L.A., two camera crews from two stations came down to film it and get it on the local news. The team had caught the local city's imagination.

Nothing like a Cup competition bringing the Davids against the Goliaths, and nothing like a piece of American soccer history like your article presents.

PS. Also makes me yearn to go to the Soccer Hall of Fame.

[bright]

My dad claimed he played for Harmarville when they won the US Open Cup. He said the team was semi-pro, and that he was paid a little bit of money. He drove down to Hamarville from New Castle, PA, and his name was Paul Conte, and he was Italian.

My dad passed away four years ago. I wish I could talk to him about this Harmarville thing, but I have no way of verifying his participation. Does anyone have line-ups or pictures related to the Harmarville teams?

It is also possible that he may have been talking about another cup competition altogether, and it may have been a different year. Also, did Harmarville have an amateur side that competed in the Amateur Cup?

I do remember one specific game he told me about against a St. Louis team. I know St. Louis was always in the western bracket, so this sounds like a championship game to me. However, Harmarville never played a team from St. Louis in the US Open cup championship game. Anyways, my dad scored the only goal. Supposedly, it was raining all game, and the field was muddy. Someone crossed the ball into the box, and my dad went for it but slipped in the mud and slid forward. The ball smacked him in the forehead and went into the goal, but he was kind of knocked out because it was a total accident. A picture of the goal made the New Castle News newspaper, and my mom confirmed with me at the time that this was true. However, this also could have been with a different team altogether.

Anyways, any help in tracking down evidence of my dad's participation with Harmarville would be greatly appreciated. I even tried contacting the Harmarville chamber of commerce, but no luck there.

As far as suburban versus working class goes, all the stories my dad told me about soccer in the US in the 50's and 60's involved working class people. He said he travelled with his team to a lot of cities, and all the players had jobs on the side, mostly in factories. Also, a lot of the players were very ethnic, but there were some Mayflower Americans, too. Even growing up in the 70's and early 80's, I watched my dad associate a lot with working class people in the soccer world. When we moved to Las Vegas, we would play with Hispanic construction workers in the park, and I would play kick around with the lower class kids in our apartment complex, mostly ethnic.

I guess it was the NASL that really catapulted the suburan soccer boom. What little TV time they had and the big-time promotion of the teams may have contributed to it.

Thanks,
Paul

[Dr. Wankler]

Hey, Bright, if I can get the go-ahead on an article about these guys and the time to write it, I'll make sure I ask.

And even if it turns out your Dad stretched things a bit, you're still an incredibly lucky guy. Not many of us got to talk soccer with our fathers.

[drew_VT_6]

Both of my grandfathers played soccer. My mom's dad passed away last year, but I got to sit down on the 4th of July and watch the MLS game with my Dad's dad.

He played for Worcester Polytechnic Institute during WW2 and tells me of a game they set up with some English sailors because of how hard it was to get games at the time. He grew up in Windsor, CT and played there. He always tells me of how different the ball was. Whenever he watches USA games or MLS (he taped every game of the 94WC and every USA WC game since) he exclaims on how the level of the American game has improved since his day.

My other grandfather grew up playing in Rochester, NY area. I don't know much about his playing days he didn't talk much about it. He was more of a hunter/fisherman when i was a kid/teenager.

[bright]

Dr. Wankler,

I hope you get to write that article. I love western Pennsylvania, both the people and the land. :)

I do feel happy that I got to talk soccer with my dad. Although, to be honest, it was more him talking soccer to me. Every game I watch nowadays, and especially every game I attend in person, whether it is collegiate, A-League, MLS, or Nats, I feel his spirit. Soccer and my father are intimately connected. As I get older, I'm starting to yell at the players and refs a lot more like him, too, and I am normally very reserved in large crowds. Scary.

By the way, the St. Louis team my dad talked about I think was called St. Louis Kutis. They were supposedly one of the best teams at the time, according to him. He also talked a lot about New York Hakoah. I think the Hakoah was mostly popular in the late 60's, right? Does anyone know more about these two teams?

Here is one interesting story my dad told me about going down to Pittsburgh to play soccer that puts the whole immigrant thing into perspective. His parents didn't like him playing soccer. They wanted him to work and earn money for the family, and anything else was a distraction or unnecessary expense (e.g., gas for driving). He was in his early 20's at this point. One day, he drove down to Pittsburgh for practice. He was in the locker room ready to change into his uniform, and he opened his gym bag, and he found his soccer boots all cut up into pieces. Apparently, my grandmother did it out of spite to teach him a lesson. Someone on the team lent him a pair of boots, but it was very embarassing for him. (My dad went into detail about the guy's name and ethnicity and how he was such a great guy, but I don't remember). I remember talking to my grandmother about that, telling her that that was a messed up thing to do, and she would smile and put one hand up in the air and say "Ehh!! What canna ya do?"

drew_VT_6,

Isn't it awesome to watch games with older family members? I get a kick out of it with all sports, because they remember so much. It is a beautiful intimate bonding experience.

Thanks,
- Paul

[Dr. Wankler]

http://www.soccertimes.com/facts/usa/usopencup.htm

Here's a list of the champions. You'll see that Kutis and Hakoah (not sure I'm spelling that right) played each other for the Championship.

It might interest you to know that Schwaben in Chicago is still around, as is Kutis, I believe (though in the 80s the Busch team rose to prominance, and provided a pretty solid reserve XI that kicked my town teams ass on a couple of occasions).

Interesting that there's more soccer history than most people think. Remember Jack Edward's really awful "mine eyes have seen the glory" line after the Mexico match last year. Well, unfortunately, that overshadowed the next bit, where he gave credit to guys and teams that kept the game alive from 1950 onward. As American fans today, I think we owe a debt of gratitude to these guys probably even moreso than to the NASL players and administrators, who didn't do nearly as much for the game at the grassroots level.

[bright]

Someone needs to interview all these guys and document this history before they all die off.

Does the Soccer Hall of Fame have the money for something like a series of video documentaries? I'd buy that.

1. 1800's and turn of the century
2. ASL
3. WWII-50's-60's
4. NASL-80's
5. MLS

- Paul

[rohara30]

This is an old article that I posted on the daily MLS news thread some time ago. But now that this board is open I though it'd be good idea to give it a thread in its own right.

Anyone at all interested in the US Open Cup or the history of soccer in the USA will enjoy this article.

Work ethic made Harmarville toast of U.S. soccer in 1950s (http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/other/20030713opencup0713p4.asp) - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

http://www.post-gazette.com/images2/20030713lfcup13_230.jpg

Yo, I've played soccer in Harmerville!!! I've read this article before...a few years ago I think. At a huge indoor facility with field turf, I've played lots of soccer and lacrosse. Upstairs they have all these plaques, trophies, and clippings, and memorabilia of the former Harmerville players. I actually was offered a job there as the lacrosse coordinator and soccer instructor but turned it down because of a conflicting committment. The head soccer guy there was my junor high coach - Chet Gapcinzki - great goalkeeper and great guy. Nice article.

[ButlerBob]

I grew up in Western PA and they still have a strong soccer tradition in Harmarville. Their high school is Springdale, where soccer used to be more popular then football. Which is saying something in that part of the state. When I was in high school in the early 80s most of the better atheletes at that school would go out for soccer instead of football. It was more of a family tradition to play soccer. From what my dad and grandfather have told me there were teams in all of the mill and mining towns in the area. This was because most of workers were recent imigrants.

[THOMA GOL]

Great article (I love History of any kind:D). Even though the National Team of today has skilled players, and the world is finally giving us our due respects somewhat, the American soccer player is still regarded as one that plays with a never say die attitude, despite not having skills like a Ronaldinho. I hope more stories as such come out.