February 10 (1946)

A crowd of 5,000 watches the Raftery Painters, one of the top teams in St. Louis during and just after World War II, score twice in the final six minutes to defeat the Natural Set-Ups 2-1 in a first-round game in the National Challenge Cup (today’s Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup) at Fairground Park. The match is a replay of a Jan. 5 game in which a post-match protest by the Natural Set-Ups overturns a 3-2 Raftery’s win. The Natural Set-Ups bolt to an early lead in the replay on a goal by Larry Kickham on a free kick awarded after a foul by future U.S. Soccer Hall of Famer Gino Pariani. Rafterty’s bounces back with late goals from Willie Welsher and Ed Hertling. Raftery’s will lose 4-2 to Carondelet Sunday Morning Athletic Club in the second round on April 13. The victory will advance Carondelet to the national quarterfinals, where it will lose 1-0 on April 28 to the eventual National Challenge Cup champion, Viking Athletic Association of Chicago. Rafter Painters, champions of the Many League in 1942 and 1945, will defend their title successfully in 1946. The Muny League was the top men’s league in St. Louis between the folding of the professional St. Louis League in 1938 and the start of the St. Louis Major League in 1948.