December 16 (1937)

The disintegration of one of the greatest teams in St. Louis soccer history accelerates when Alex McNab asks the U.S. Football Association (today’s U.S. Soccer Federation) to declare him a free agent. McNab is one of several future U.S. Soccer Hall of Famers who helped the Stix/Central Brewers/Shamrocks team reach six consecutive finals (1932-37) and three straight championships (1933-35) of the National Challenge Cup (today’s Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup). McNab alleges that the Shamrocks, the final incarnation of the Stix/Central Brewers/Shamrocks dynasty, had “failed to meet its salary obligations and under the rules of the USFA he would thus be free to sign with another club,” according to a report in the Dec. 16, 1937, edition of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. McNab, the Shamrocks’ coach and captain, follows the lead of teammate and future U.S. Soccer Hall of Famer Billy Gonsalves. Gonsalves refused to sign a new contract with the Shamrocks, who compete in the professional St. Louis League. “The team has played only two games in a season which is now three months old and it is questionable whether the USFA will hold the players to their contracts,” the Post-Dispatch reports. The demise of the Shamrocks reflects the failing fortunes of the St. Louis League, which will collapse in 1938 after 31 years of operation. McNab, who was born in Scotland, played for Greenock Morton starting in 1916, and earned two caps with Scotland’s national team. He moved to the United States in 1924 to play for some of the top teams in the eastern United States. He joined Stix, Baer and Fuller in 1933. He will play two more seasons after leaving the Shamrocks, and will remain in St. Louis to work as a sporting goods salesman for the Stix, Baer and Fuller department stores. He will die on April 3, 1960, from a heart ailment while playing golf at Creve Coeur Country Club.