February 5 (1933)

The long-awaited debut of future U.S. Soccer Hall of Famer Billy Gonsalves with Stix, Baer & Fuller is finally expected to take place in a St. Louis League match against the Andersons at Sportsman’s Park. His arrival is one of the hottest sports stories in St. Louis during the first two months of the year. The high-scoring forward from Portsmouth, R.I., is the latest defection from the East, along with players such as future U.S. Soccer Hall of Famers Alex McNab and Werner “Scotty” Nilsen, to join Stix. Stix lost to Gonsalves, McNab and Nilsen and their New Bedford (Mass.) Whalers in the 1932 finals of the National Challenge Cup (today’s Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup). Stix announced the signing of Gonsalves on Jan. 8, but bureaucratic red tape delays his debut. More administrative holdups prevent Gonsalves from playing on Feb. 5. He finally will appear for Stix on Feb. 26, and will be a key factor in the team winning three consecutive National Challenge Cups from 1933-35. Gonsalves will go on to be considered one of the greatest players in U.S. soccer history. His statistics are incomplete, but teammate and St. Louisan Billy Keough (brother of U.S. Soccer Hall of Famer Harry Keough) will write in a three-part series in Soccer America magazine in 1973 that Gonsalves scored more than 1,000 goals during his career.