March 6 (1955)

Simpkins Ford literally fights its way into the U.S. Open Cup semifinals by overwhelming the Milwaukee Sports Club 6-2 in Milwaukee in the second game of a two-game series. Simpkins, which draws many of its players from the Italian neighborhood known as The Hill in St. Louis, had won the first game 6-1. Fisticuffs break out on the field and in the stands at Milwaukee during the second game. Simpkins’ John Galimberti and Milwaukee’s Adam Nothels duke it out and are tossed from the game midway through the second half while some of the 20 Simpkins fans on hand engage in a fistfight with the home crowd. As for the soccer game, Joe Spica and future U.S. Soccer Hall of Famer Gino Pariani give Simpkins a 2-0 halftime lead. The weather turns sour in the second half as snow falls and the field becomes slippery, but the goals keep coming. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Bill Lange, John Traina, Joe Fernandez and Spica score for Simpkins in the second half. Simpkins, the 1948 and 1950 U.S. Open Cup champions, will lose in the 1955 semifinals to Danish American S.C. of Los Angeles. Danish American will fall to Eintracht S.C. of East New York in the finals.