July 29 (1948)

The opening ceremonies for the first summer Olympics since 1936 include five soccer players from St. Louis in the parade of all Olympic athletes at London’s Wembley Stadium: Bob Annis, Ray Beckman, Bill Bertani, Charley Colombo and Gino Pariani. St. Louisan Justin Keenoy is a referee for the Olympic soccer tournament. The U.S. team arrives in London having spent little time training together. Their inexperience will show in their opening Olympic match against Italy on Aug. 2. Beckman, Bertani and Colombo will be in the starting lineup when the Italians win, 9-0, knocking the Americans out of the single-elimination Olympic tournament. St. Louisan Walter Giesler, recently named president of the U.S. Soccer Football Association (today’s U.S. Soccer Federation), had assembled and managed the team as vice president of the USSFA. The hard lessons learned from the Olympics are not lost on Giesler. He recommends that future U.S. teams “should be assembled several weeks prior to sailing so that combination play could be developed. . . . We must give the team a chance to practice as a unit.”  Giesler uses his powers as USSFA president to implement those lessons for the 1950 World Cup. The result will be a team that upsets England, 1-0, and nearly beats Spain, with five starters from St. Louis (Colombo, Pariani, Frank Borghi, Harry Keough and Frank “Pee Wee” Wallace) and a sixth St. Louisan (Annis) on the bench. All the members of the 1950 team, as well as Giesler, will land in the U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame.