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 Came to the U.S. with his
parents as an infant in 1906.
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Personal Information |
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Class of 1972 |
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Born: September 7, 1905 - Luanco, Asturias, Spain |
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Died: January 24, 1988 |
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Started playing soccer with Scottish friends in Anmoore, West
Virginia where the big game of the year was between the Scottish coal
miners and the Spanish zinc smelter workers. Due to the rivalry between the two teams a new referee had
to be imported each year. In 1919
he returned to Spain where he attended the Institute of Commerce, and
also played for the Marino Football Club. In 1922 he journeyed to Havana, Cuba playing for Madrid F.C. and then returned to the United States in 1924. Along with his brother he formed the
Canton (Ohio) Sporting Club and then the Donora (Pennsylvania) Spanish
Football Club. In 1927 he went to Washington to study electrical
engineering at Bliss Electrical School and while there played for Blick's
Acadians and for Juventud Gallega.
In 1936 he became manager of State F.C. in the Brooklyn League,
then a referee and then secretary of Brooklyn Hispano of the American
Soccer League. During the war
years he worked for the Defense Department returning to Brooklyn Hispano
in 1945. In 1947 he attended his first
American Soccer League meeting and thus began an association with the ASL
that lasted for many years. He
was variously vice president, secretary, business manager and in 1967
became the first executive secretary. As a key official of the American Soccer League he arranged many
of the "dream games" the ASL promoted between some of the best
teams in the world, and dedicated almost 70 years of his life to soccer
as player, manager, referee, league secretary, vice president, treasurer
and archivist. It's no wonder he
was regarded as "Mr. American Soccer League." Along the way he served on the U.S.
Olympic and National Open Challenge Cup Committees.
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