March 19 (1922)

Scullin Steel wins St. Louis’s second national title by beating Todd Shipyards of Brooklyn, 3-2, in the National Challenge Cup final. Scullin overcomes a 2-0 deficit in the mud before 8,568 fans on a rainy day at High School Field, Grand and Laclede avenues. The outcome is viewed as vindication of the American style of soccer: “For the last 15 minutes of the opening period and the entire closing half, the Scullin forwards gave an exhibition of the worth of the long pass,” Herman Wecke will write in the next day’s St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “All three goals were made possible by . . . the strictly American style game. Ability to beat the heavier and slower moving Easterners to the ball aided materially.” Ironically, it is a St. Louis native who helps put Scullin behind when future U.S. Soccer Hall of Famer and Todd captain Harry Ratican sets up Jack McGuire for the game’s opening goal in the 17th minute. McGuire strikes again just two minutes later on an unassisted goal, silencing the home crowd. Todd’s masterful short passing game befuddles the St. Louisans, but Scullin’s youth and better conditioning takes over in the 30th minute and so tires Todd that “time was taken out three times by Referee Young and on each occasion it was for a visiting athlete,” Wecke will write. Still, Scullin’s victory is a last-gasp thing. Having tied the score on goals by Cliff Brady in the 37th minute and Allie Schwarz in the 71st minute, Scullin sees regulation time running out. With four minutes left, Schwarz (third from left, front row, in photo above) dribbles into the penalty area, stops to let an opponent pass, does the same to a second defender, and shoots high into the net. The victory avenges Scullin’s loss in the 1921 final to the same opponents, then under the name of Robins Dry Dock of Brooklyn. The 1922 championship of the National Challenge Cup, today’s Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, is the second in three years for a St. Louis team. The Ben Miller Hat Co. won the title in 1920.