Your Turn: Immigration saved American soccer

Tim Schum | Binghamton

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With immigration currently a dominant issue, the recent passing of U.S. soccer legend Walter Bahr focused the role he and other transplants played in keeping the sport of soccer alive in this country.

With the world’s multitudes enjoying the 2018 World Cup, the concurrent death of Bahr at age 91 near State College, Pennsylvania, recalled perhaps the most historic event in our nation’s soccer history.

Bahr was the last surviving member of the 1950 U.S. World Cup team that sprung a 1-0 defeat on England at Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Rated a 500-to-1 underdog, it was Bahr’s pass that teammate Haitian-born Joe Gaetiens headed in for the game’s only goal.

Unfortunately, today the positive contributions of our immigrant populations to our country’s development have been obscured by an administration seemingly oblivious to the historical facts of the issue. As one example, there is no question that Walter Bahr and his like contributed to the maintenance of soccer as a sport in this country.

Not unlike many communities, Walter’s Philadelphia was home to a number of soccer-loving ethnic populations. Germans, Scots, Irish and others worked in the city’s then-textile industry by day and played competitive soccer on weekends. Over time, with soccer as their magnet, social clubs emerged in the urban areas, allowing the cultural traditions of a given nationality to prosper.

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This scenario was replicated throughout the Eastern seaboard and other of the nation’s cities. Eventually, competitive regional leagues emerged with team names (the German-Americans, etc.) reflecting the teams’ legacies.

It was from these largely amateur leagues that the 1950 U.S. national team was selected. Coached by Scottish immigrant Bill Jeffrey, the team roster included players of Portuguese, Italian, Irish, German and Irish heritage. Whatever there background and against overwhelming odds, all pulled together to pull off the monumental upset.

In time, many of that generation would follow Bahr’s example (he would coach at the secondary school and college level, eventually ending his Hall of Fame career as coach at Penn State) and contribute to the growth of the game in their locales.

While from 1954 forward, the U.S. was absent from World Cup play until 1990, nevertheless the game was kept alive through play in our schools and colleges. Eventually through the impact of Title IX, our U.S. women have become a dominant force at the international level, while youth leagues and the establishment of Major League Soccer have solidified the place of soccer in this country.

But without the under-appreciated devotion to the game as exemplified in the person of Walter Bahr, it is doubtful that the sport would have survived.

In much the same manner, it is hoped that that the contributions of our diverse immigrant populations to our culture are not minimized by spurious claims of an administration bent on rewriting history.

For to downplay those influences is to diminish the role that inclusion has played in our country’s successes and that has been the envy of the world.

Tim Schum coached men’s soccer at Binghamton University from 1963 to 1992.