April 9 (1925)

Future U.S. Soccer Hall of Famer Frank Borghi is born. He will be the goalkeeper who will shut out England 1-0 in the 1950 World Cup, one of the biggest upsets in soccer history. An Army medic during World War II who will serve in the Battle of the Bulge and in the subsequent drive through western Germany in 1944-45, Borghi will play minor league baseball in 1946 for the Cardinals’ Class D team in Carthage, Mo. His baseball career will end abruptly when “a scout came around and I wasn’t home,” Borghi told Dave Lange in an interview in 2009. “My mother ran him out of the house and said, ‘My son is going to stay home.’” Like many other athletes in St. Louis who played baseball, Borghi also played soccer, but said, “I had no ball skills or passing ability.” He volunteered to play goal because “I knew I can catch a ball and throw it 50 yards. It worked out really good for me.” That’s an understatement. He will help Simpkins Ford win the U.S. Open Cup in 1948 and 1950 and will backstop the U.S. team in the 1950 World Cup. He will be widely credited as a key to the Americans’ 1-0 win over England. He will preserve the victory with 8 minutes to go by somehow swatting away a shot by England’s Jimmy Mullen just before the ball entirely crosses the goal line. Borghi will go on to make 9 appearances for the United States and will play many years in goal for Simpkins Ford. He and the rest of the 1950 U.S. team will be inducted into the U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame on July 4, 1976.