January 1 (1950)

St. Louisan and future U.S. Soccer Hall of Famer Walter Giesler, the president of the U.S. Soccer Football Association (today’s U.S. Soccer Federation), brings a college bowl game to Sportsman’s Park. Soccer will not be sanctioned by the NCAA until 1959. Nevertheless, the game is billed as the Soccer Bowl to decide the national collegiate championship. Two undefeated teams, Penn State and the University of San Francisco, each with an 8-0-0 record, play to a 2-2 deadlock before 4,600 fans. What will be described as a “dubious hand ball penalty” leads to Penn State’s tying goal on a penalty kick with 2 minutes left. Penn State’s inside right is St. Louisan Ron Coleman. San Francisco’s team captain and left fullback, born in New Jersey but raised in Romania, will earn praise in the Jan. 3 Post-Dispatch from future U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame journalist Dent McSkimming. “It was easy to see that he had played with the better teams in . . .  Rumania,” McSkimming writes. “. . . It would not be surprising if he is considered for a place in the United States team that goes to Rio de Janeiro.” He will not be picked for the World Cup team that will upset England 1-0 on June 29, but Steve Negoesco will return to the University of San Francisco to coach the Dons to four NCAA titles, 22 conference championships and a 540-172-66 record over 39 seasons beginning in 1962.