Bethlehem Steel Soccer - A Dynasty

• Scott Tann
• Tue Mar 27 2007, 8:32pm 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 1.

In 1914, the United States Football Association founded the National Challenge Cup, now known as the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.

Other cup competitions existed at the time, but it was the National Challenge Cup - the National Cup for short - which gave amateur, semi-professional, and professional clubs throughout the United States the chance to play for a true national championship.

The winner received the Dewar Cup, a spectacular trophy donated by the Englishman Sir Thomas Dewar in the competition's first year. According to Jack Huckel, Director of Museum Services at the National Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneonta, NY, the Dewar Cup weighs 78 pounds and is currently valued at $250,000.

The Stanley Cup – originally known as the Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup – is one of the most hallowed tournaments and trophies in existence, but the competition was for amateur clubs from 1893 to 1927.

The U.S. Open Cup is therefore the oldest annual professional tournament - making the Dewar Cup the oldest professional championship trophy - in United States sports history.

"The supreme honor in the soccer world of the United States"

In the early years of the National Cup, teams from the east coast dominated the competition.

The National Cup's inaugural final took place on May 16, 1914 - forty-three days before the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand sparked World War I. Brooklyn Field Club defeated Brooklyn Celtic 2-1 in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.

For the next five years, however, one team dominated the National Cup and, for that matter, American soccer: Bethlehem Steel.

Bethlehem lies sixty miles north of Philadelphia in eastern Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley.

"The Bethlehems" began as an amateur industrial league team, but they quickly became a professional club as many talented English and Scottish players, particularly the latter, swelled their ranks.

Media coverage of Bethlehem Steel was better than it is of many MLS teams today. The South Bethlehem Globe published practice reports (often several in one week), general team news, rumors, match previews, full match reports - and the occasional special feature.

"Surprise Supper," read the headline in the September 10, 1914 issue of The Globe.

"In the home of Mr. and Mrs. W. Neilson, 307 North Main Street, Bethlehem, a surprise supper was given to C. A. Brady, of Oswega, NY. Covers were laid for fifty members and friends of the champion Bethlehems Soccer team.

"The menu follows: Martini cocktail, Fruit cocktail, cream of asparagus, peas, sweet potatoes, fried oysters and roast stuffed chicken, ice-cream, coffee."

The house was decorated in the team's colors - blue and white - while guests wore blue and white boutonnieres, heard several rousing speeches, sang with cabaret singers from New York, and danced until midnight.

If one were to turn the Bethlehems' story into a movie, the guest of honor's speech that night would be the perfect way to open.

"Mr. Brady [thanked] Mr. Scaife and the guests and said... it was not surprising, the way the Bethlehems attained its splendid success last season, as perfect harmony exists among all the players... He hoped that they would go one better this year and lift the National Challenge Cup, the supreme honor in the soccer world of the United States."

1915 - Quest for a treble

The Bethlehems played the 1914-1915 regular season in the American League of Philadelphia. They opened the campaign with a 7-1 victory over Schuylkill Falls, but then managed draws against their next two opponents, Victor (2-2) and Hibernian (1-1).

In an October 21, 1914 article entitled "BSSC management unhappy," the coaching staff promised more stringent training and a new system. "The inability of the forward line to score has been very disappointing to the management."

The Bethlehems found a rhythm two weeks later, when they trounced West Philadelphia 6-0 in the opening round of the American Cup. With only one exception – a 1-0 win against Disston in league play - they tore through the American League, the American Cup, and the National Cup for the next four months. They won matches 7-1, 4-0, 7-0, 6-1, 7-0, 11-0, and 5-0.

Hopes for a treble - league championship, American Cup, and National Cup - were dashed on March 15, 1915, when Brooklyn Celtic knocked Bethlehem Steel out of the American Cup in the 4th Round.

Despite the loss, The Globe reported that play during a twenty minute span of the first half "was of the most spectacular brand ever witnessed in the metropolitan district."

Kearny Scots of Kearny, NJ - home to Tab Ramos, Tony Meola, and John Harkes of MLS and national team fame – went on to defeat Celtic 1-0 in the American Cup final that year.

Celtic's defeat, of course, was no consolation to Bethlehem Steel. Having lost the chance to defend their American Cup title from the previous year, the Blue and White were eager for revenge.

"Hopeful of meeting them in the final"

The Bethlehems went on to beat Kearny Scots 3-0 in the National Cup quarterfinals, then downed Hibernian 6-1 for the American League championship on March 29.

On April 5, three thousand spectators witnessed Bethlehem's 4-1 semifinal victory over Pittsburgh's Homestead Steel Works. The match took place at Lehigh University's Taylor Field, where the final would be held May 3.

Brooklyn Celtic was to meet Pawtucket a week later in the other semifinal, but it was clear whom Bethlehem wished to battle for the championship.

"Celtic was the only team to defeat the locals this season, and the Bethlehems are hopeful of meeting them in the final," wrote The Globe.

They were not disappointed.

With nearly a month to prepare for the National Cup final against Celtic, Bethlehem Steel played exhibition matches against the University of Pennsylvania, Fall River Rovers, and a team of Fall River all-stars.

The Globe published four preview stories the week before the final. Topics included the selection of referees, a list of the eighty teams which had been eliminated from the National Cup, the expected arrival of fans from all over the eastern half of the United States, preparations at Taylor Field, and expected rosters.

Prior to the match, Bethlehem Steel had compiled a record of 29-1-3 in all competitions. They scored 159 goals and only gave up 26: a staggering goal differential of +133.

Brooklyn Celtic, at 25-2-1, tallied 118 goals for the year and let in just 16 for a +102 goal differential.

The 1915 National Cup championship was truly a battle of giants.

"Undisputed champion of the United States"

Seven thousand spectators visited Taylor Field Saturday, May 1. "The Bethlehem Steel company band of one hundred pieces enlivened the occasion," wrote The Globe, "and 'movies' recorded the many sensational plays."

Both teams played in a 2-3-5 formation, typical of the day. The Bethlehems came out strong in the first half, notching two goals before the interval. By the end of the day they would outshoot their opponent 27-9.

Celtic had the better of play for much of the second half, but each side tallied once. The final score: Bethlehem Steel 3, Brooklyn Celtic 1.

Bethlehem Steel won its first National Cup that day to become, as The Globe wrote the following Monday, "undisputed champion of the United States." The winners received the Dewar Cup and gold medals at a ceremony in New York City a month later.

After their double of 1915, Bethlehem Steel would win the National Cup again in 1916, 1918, 1919, and 1926.

They won the American Cup in 1914, 1916, 1917, 1918, 1919, and were runners-up in 1920. They were also largely responsible for the founding of the American Soccer League, which existed from 1921-1930, and again from 1933 to 1983.

In the summer of 1919, Bethlehem Steel toured Scandinavia for a series of matches.

The men

Many great players of the 'teens and twenties donned the blue and white of Bethlehem Steel.

The most famous, world-wide, was probably Alex Jackson. After leaving Bethlehem, Jackson played for Aberdeen in Scotland, as well as Huddersfield Town and Chelsea in England.

Jackson is best known as a member of the "Wembley Wizards" - the Scottish national team which humiliated England 5-1 at Wembley Stadium in 1928.

The most acclaimed American player of the Bethlehem era was Archie Stark, born in Scotland but raised in Kearny, NJ. Stark scored over 300 goals in the ASL for New York FC, Bethlehem, and Kearny Scots (also known as Newark Scottish Americans or simply Scottish Americans).

In the 1924-25 ASL season, Stark scored 67 goals in 44 games for Bethlehem Steel, a world record for a First Division league.

Robert "Whitey" McDonald grew up in Hamilton, Ontario and joined the Bethlehems in 1924. When Glasgow Rangers toured the U.S. in 1928, they saw him play, signed him, and took him to Scotland. He played 10 years for Rangers and won numerous Scottish League titles and cups.

The bitter end

The 1928-1929 season was contentious. The American Soccer League, citing schedule conflicts and financial losses caused by the National Cup, forbade Bethlehem Steel from playing in the tournament.

The Bethlehems, eager and able to win the $5,000 prize, refused to withdraw.

The rancor and political infighting, dubbed "The Soccer War," disgusted team founder Horace Edgar Lewis to the point that he disbanded Bethlehem Steel Soccer Club at the end of the 1930 season.

Of course, the unpleasant end to twenty-one years of glory does nothing to tarnish Bethlehem Steel's legacy. They were the first dynasty of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup and one of the most successful professional clubs in American soccer history.

Special thanks to:

• Matt Bernhardt, MatchNight.com


• Jack Huckel, Dir. of Museum Services, National Soccer Hall of Fame


• Colin Jose, Historian, National Soccer Hall of Fame


• Dan Morrison, webmaster, Bethlehem Steel Soccer Club web site

For more information on Bethlehem Steel, visit Mr. Morrison's outstanding web site.

For a list of all winners of the U.S. Open Cup, visit the American Soccer History Archives.

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