The Open What?

• Scott Tann
• Tue Mar 27 2007, 8:19pm GMT

In 2004, I wrote a five-part series for MatchNight on the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. It was called "A Toast to the Open Cup." This is Part 4.

The 1940s was the first decade of the 20th century without a dynasty, or anything resembling it, in the U.S. Open Cup.

One of the finest teams of the early 40s, the American Soccer League's Brooklyn Hispano, boasted many great players and won the title in both 1943 and 1944.

Hispano - with the help of goalkeeper Gene Olaff, forward Fabri Salcedo, and the legendary Billy Gonsalves, winner of a record eight Open Cup medals - defeated Pittsburgh Morgan-Strasser Jewelers on both occasions.

In the first match of the 1943 final, Hispano and Morgan-Strasser remained deadlocked at two goals apiece through five overtimes. The referee decided to call the game for a replay, which Hispano won a week later, 3-2. Salcedo and Gonsalves scored all five of the Brooklyn side's goals that year.

The 1944 final was limited to one match due to wartime travel restrictions. Salcedo and Gonsalves added a goal apiece as Hispano won 4-0.

Dying embers

It is around the end of World War II that a noticeable transformation of the U.S. Open Cup took place.

Prior to the war, coverage of the tournament in major newspapers across the country had been thorough - news, rosters, and match reports were common. After the war, however, the game of soccer - as well as the Open Cup - became increasingly marginalized.

The country's oldest professional sports tournament virtually disappeared in the 1960s. For several years in the late 1960s, Soccer America magazine barely covered the Open Cup. The USSF has only scores of the championship matches - no statistics or lineups.

There are several possible explanations why the Open Cup dropped under the radar of American sports until the advent of Major League Soccer. They fall under three general categories: the economy, the "American" mentality, and administrative decisions.

None taken by itself describes how or why the tournament fell into such decline, and none is a particularly airtight in its logic. When taken together, though, they point in a direction which provides a fairly reasonable explanation for the Open Cup's invisibility for over forty years.

Economics

The Great Depression destabilized the financial base of professional leagues in the late 1920s and 1930s. Avenues for player development still existed in ethnic leagues around the country, but financial incentives diminished greatly in the aftermath of the Depression.

On the other hand, professional baseball suffered no real downturn during the same period, and the second ASL was founded in 1933 and lasted until 1983. The Depression certainly hurt the game and the tournament, but it cannot be the sole factor.

To be "American"

After World War II, college football thrived as a spectator sport. Returning veterans entered college, watched football, and followed it closely after graduating. Generations of sports fans followed football and baseball, identifying, consciously or not, with these "American" games.

At the same time, many soccer teams embraced ethnic identities which may have alienated the already disinterested public.

Kearny Scots may have been acceptable from the late 19th century through the 1930s, but teams such as the Philadelphia Ukrainian Nationals, New York Greek-Americans, Chicago Croatian, Los Angeles Maccabee, and San Pedro Yugoslavs were probably not well-received by large segments of the American population after World War II and particularly during the Cold War, when social conformity and homogenous national identity had a strong hold on the country's mentality.

This embrace of "American" sports and a uniquely American identity accelerated the flight of corporate sponsorship of soccer, a support system which had all but disappeared by the 1950s.

Gone were teams such as Bethlehem Steel, Detroit Holley Carburetors, Stix, Baer, and Fuller, and Chicago Manhattan Beer. They were replaced by ethnic clubs in ethnic leagues, playing a game viewed more and more as "foreign."

Public interest and corporate sponsorship discouraged each other in a cycle of marginalization.

By the time the NASL arrived in 1967, the Open Cup was a non-entity in a sport which only legends like Pele and Franz Beckenbauer could revive in the United States. But when the NASL chose not to participate in the Open Cup, the tournament was doomed to several more decades of obscurity.

Who’s Running the Show?

One also wonders what effect the different incarnations of the United States Soccer Federation had on the Open Cup.

Few could argue convincingly that over the past ten years the USSF has done an admirable job of promoting what should be a jewel in the crown of American professional sports.

Even today, as MLS and A-League teams view the cup more seriously, many soccer fans are unaware that the tournament even exists. How long has poor administrative leadership been an issue?

Teams of note

While the Open Cup floundered as an event from the 1950s through the 1980s, there are teams and players worth mentioning.

Philadelphia Ukrainian Nationals, or the "Uke-Nats," won the title in 1960, 1961, and 1963, lost in the 1964 final, and won it again in 1966.

Hall of Fame midfielder Alex Ely was a member of the Uke-Nats in 1960 and 1963 and on the losing side in 1964. Forward Mike Noha scored all five goals in the 5-3 win in 1960 and the only goal in 1963. Former U.S. national team coach Walter Chyzowych was on the losing side in 1964, but scored two goals in the first leg.

The New York Greek-Americans won the Open Cup in 1967, 1968 and 1974. The New York Pancyprian Freedoms won in 1980, 1982 and 1983.

The Sun Also Rises

It was not until 1996, when D.C. United lifted the Open Cup ten days after their thrilling victory in Major League Soccer's inaugural championship, that the curve of the tournament's visibility jumped upward.

The U.S. Open Cup is still not a popular tournament, but it is gaining recognition and credibility from fans, players, and coaches throughout MLS and the lower divisions.

It's about time.

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