This year’s banquet will be a once in a lifetime affair as our special Guest of Honor will be Walter Bahr, soccer icon and hero of the USA victory over England in the 1950 World Cup. All those who played with and for Walt are invited to join us in honoring the most recognized name in the history of soccer.

2010 INDUCTEES

This year’s group composes the 63rd class of Hall of Fame inductions that date back to 1947. Coming from a number of varied soccer backgrounds, the 2010 class includes:

Brian Bradby
Andrew Craig
Peter W. Hansen
Howard W. Leight
William O’Neill
Charles Oswald
Mark Ozoroski
Robert Peffle
Richard Sheridan
James Talbot

2010 AWARD WINNERS

Tom Patton Award – Female Player of the Year – Maureen Hawkins
Bill Peterman Award – Male Player of the Year – John McCarthy
Charlotte Moran Award – Coach of the Year (Female Team) – Joseph Coyle
Coach of the Year Award (Male Team) – John Dunlop
Ned Potts Award – Club of the Year – Parkwood Youth Organization
Harry Rogers Award – Referee of the Year – Tom Kalup
Chick Fallon Award – Service to Soccer – Announced at banquet

All are invited to attend our banquet and help honor these soccer stalwarts. Tickets are $40. (includes dinner and open bar) and are available by contacting gordon.dunlop@sepasoccerhall.com. Tickets may also be purchased at our May 6th meeting at Parkwood Y.O. or on line through our web site (www.sepasoccerhall.com). The banquet will take place on May 15th, from 5:00 to 10:00PM at the Cannstatter Volksfest-Verein, 9130 Academy Road, Philadelphia, PA, 19114.

Our banquet program contains ads that pay homage to these inductees and award recipients. These ads also help us sponsor and run soccer programs and events in the soccer community. Ads are priced at: Full page-$100 and half page-$50. If you would like to purchase an ad, please contact our banquet director, Gordon Dunlop at gordon.dunlop@sepasoccerhall.com.

Walter’s first involvement with soccer came at the age of 11, when he joined the Lighthouse Boys Club team in the Kensington section of Philadelphia. Within four years he had signed as an amateur with the Philadelphia Nationals of the professional American Soccer League. There he developed under coach Jimmy Mills, himself a Hall of Famer, and becoming a professional helped the Nationals win American Soccer League titles in 1950, 1951 and 1953. In 1949 and 1952 he was a member of the Nationals team that reached the U.S. Open Cup final, but lost on each occasion to a team from the Pittsburgh area. He won the ASL title again in 1955 and 1956 with Uhrik Truckers another Philadelphia team. Walter also played the 1953 summer season in Canada for Montreal Hakoah and once again his team reached the national final before losing to New Westminster Royals. In other years he played in the New York German-American League for S.C. Eintract and the German-Hungarians.

On numerous occasions Walter played for the American Soccer League all-star team against some of the finest club teams in the world, including in 1948 the English team Liverpool and the national team of Israel. In 1950 against Besiktas of Turkey and Jonkopping of Sweden. In 1951 against A.I.K. Stockholm of Sweden. In 1953 against Rapid Vienna of Austria. In 1956 against the Israeli Olympic team, Everton of England and Rapid Vienna of Austria for the second time, and in 1957 against Hapoel of Tel Aviv.

In 1948 he was selected for the U.S. Olympic squad at the Olympic Games in London and captained the team. However, soon after he signed as a professional and became ineligible to play for the Olympic team again. In 1949 Walter Bahr was a member of the U.S. World Cup team that qualified from a tournament in Mexico City for the 1950 World Cup of Soccer held in Brazil. There he played against Spain, England and Chile. Against England in Belo Horizonte he supplied the pass that led to Joe Gaetjens scoring the winning goal in one of the greatest sporting upsets of all time. In April of 1952 he was a member of the U.S. national team that played against Scotland at Glasgow’s famed Hampden Park before 107,765 fans. Altogether Walter Bahr played 19 times for the U.S. national team in full international competition at a time when the U.S. didn’t play anything like as many internationals as it does today. He is known, not only in the U.S., but around the world as one of the greatest and most respected soccer players ever to wear the shirt of the U.S. national team and has often served as an ambassador for his country.

After his retirement as a player Walter Bahr became a highly successful coach at Temple and at Penn State Universities, and with two professional teams Philadelphia Ukrainians and Philadelphia Spartans. He coached Temple from 1970 to 1973 and Penn State from 1974 to 1988 as well as Frankfort High School for 17 years. His overall coaching record is 448-137-70. He was elected NSCAA Coach of the Year in 1979 and the Nittany Lion soccer team was selected to the NCAA Tournament 12 times in Walt’s 14 year career. In 1995 he was elected to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Hall of Fame.

His three sons Casey, Chris and Matt all played soccer. Casey and Chris both played for the U.S. Olympic team and all three played in the North American Soccer League, Casey and Chris for Philadelphia Atoms and Matt for Colorado Caribous. Later Chris and Matt kicked field goals for a number of teams in the National Football League. Daughter Davies Ann also carried on the family’s sports tradition and was named to the All-America gymnastics team in 1977. Walter’s wife, also named Davies Ann, was a championship swimmer at Temple and a Physical Education teacher at Penn State.

This article was provided courtesy of the National Soccer Hall of Fame.

2009 INDUCTEES

This year’s group composes the 62nd class of Hall of Fame inductions dating back to 1947. Coming from a number of varied soccer backgrounds, the 2009 class includes:

Fred Costello
John Dunlop
Archie Filshill
Jim Green
Bob Ludwig
Jeffery Maierhofer
Georg Montag, Jr.
Gus Moritz
Charles O’Connor (Posthumously)
Tom Smith

2009 AWARD WINNERS

Tom Patton Award – Female Player of the Year – Jennifer Hoy, Germantown Academy
Bill Peterman Award – Male Player of the Year – Jeffery Wimsey, Father Judge
Female Coach of the Year – Darci Borski, Germantown Academy
Male Coach of the Year – Jerry Brindisi
Ned Potts Award – Club of the Year – Lansing Knights
Harry Rogers Award – Referee of the Year – Ed Tolan
Chick Fallon Award – Service to Soccer – Bob Kozlowski

William Gardiner

William J. Gilmore, Sr.

Bartholomew McGhee

Albert Blakely

Benny McLaughlin, Sr.

Thomas Oxley

Fritz Ihrig

William Bradley, Sr.

George Wilson

William Kuklick