June 9 (1957)

Kutis earns its place in U.S. soccer history by winning the U.S. Amateur Cup with a 1-0 win over the Rochester (N.J.) Ukrainians before 1,500 fans at Public Schools Stadium. Coupled with its earlier capture of the U.S. Open Cup, Kutis becomes the third team to win both cups in the same year, a feat not repeated since. Butch Cook scores the only goal in the 34th minute. The Amateur Cup win is no easy thing. The Ukrainians, all born in Europe, outplay Kutis, but misfire on some scoring attempts and are thwarted on others by spectacular goalkeeping from Leroy Franks. Due to report for military service on July 15, Franks “produced his finest effort,” U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame journalist Dent McSkimming will write in the next day’s St. Louis Post-Dispatch. It’s a good thing for Kutis that Franks plays at the top of his game. Outside of the final score, “by almost any other yardstick the visitors were the better team,” McSkimming will write. The Ukrainians take 10 corner kicks to Kutis’ five. On three of those corner kicks, the Ukrainian target player, Walter Kamad, “headed the ball just over the Kutis crossbar with goalie Leroy Franks in no position to intercept,” according to McSkimming. Playing in humid 85-degree temperatures, both teams play “to the point of complete exhaustion,” yet give the crowd “a great show,” McSkimming will write. Cook’s goal results from several intricate passes that end up putting the ball at his feet at the penalty spot, where he drives the ball into a corner of the net. The Cup title is another feather in the cap for Kutis, perhaps the best soccer team in the United States in the 1950s. Kutis will win six consecutive Amateur Cups through 1961, and lost in the 1954 Open Cup final and 1952 Amateur Cup final. (Kutis was known as the Raiders in 1952.)