February 18 (1902)

Future U.S. Soccer Hall of Famer Frank Vaughn is born. Vaughn will become a standout fullback in the professional St. Louis League with the Ben Millers and will be named to the U.S. team for the first World Cup in 1930. Vaughn will not appear in any of the three games played by the United States at the World Cup in Uruguay, but he will give a vivid account of the event in a long interview with another future U.S. Soccer Hall of Famer, sportswriter Dent McSkimming, in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Sept. 7, 1930. Vaughn will describe how refereeing styles unfamiliar to the U.S. team befuddled the Americans. “Shouldering a player, as we are accustomed to doing in this country, was taboo,” Vaughn will say. “No rushing of the goalie was permitted, as we are allowed to do in St. Louis. . . . But, all in all, it was a great trip, and I am glad I was able to make it.”