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 Lloyd Monsen had a storied
career as a player. He was a prolific goal scorer who, at the
age of 17, newly promoted to Gjoa’s senior team, which
played in the National League of New York, scored 18 goals in
his first year of league play. And, that year, he made his
first all-star appearance playing against the Kamraterna team of
Goteberg, Sweden. The following season he made his professional
debut with the New York Americans of the American Soccer League
(ASL). He made his first international appearance playing
against Italy in the 1952
Olympics.
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Personal Information |
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Class of 1994 |
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Born:
May 7, 1931
- Brooklyn, NY |
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Position:
Forward |
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Int'l
Caps: 3 |
Int'l
Goals: 0 |
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After a stint in the U.S. Army he rejoined the New York
Americans and in the 1953-’54 season he captained the team which
won the U.S. Open Cup and the ASL league championship. In 1956
while playing for New York Hakoah (Hakoah and the NY Americans
merged), Monsen captained the team which won the ASL league
title three years in a row. In nine full seasons in the ASL, he
scored 98 goals in league competition and 47 goals in cup play
and led the ASL in scoring in 1957-’58 with 22 goals (Editors
note: I had the dubious pleasure of playing against him in the
ASL. He was a clean but powerful goal scoring machine who could
turn and shoot on a dime, and was almost impossible to knock off
the ball). In a ten-year span he was selected to ASL All Star
teams no fewer than 11 times. Monsen later played with the
Brooklyn German Hungarians and finished up with the Swedish F.C.
coached by Hall of Famer Jackie Hynes.
 Monsen’s career included appearances against Yugoslavia in the
1956 Olympic games and in 1952 against Scotland in Hampden Park
before a record crowd of 107,765 fans. In addition he played
against Iceland, Italy, Mexico and the League of Ireland. He
also played against Manchester United, Manchester City, Glasgow
Celtic, Vasca DaGama, Benfica, Sunderland, Napoli, Besiktas,
Rapid Vienna and Legia. During his stint with the Olympic team
he played in Olympic friendlies against twelve different
countries.
Monsen retired from professional play in 1964 but actually
played in an over-40 league until 1988. He refereed at the
senior amateur and collegiate level from 1966-’75 and served in
various administrative and managerial capacities with the Long
Island Soccer League.
The son of Norwegian immigrants, Lloyd worked in property
management for Republic Aviation in Long Island. He
currently resides in Clearwater, Florida. Lloyd was elected to
the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 1994. |
