October 8th (1950)

Oct. 8, 1950: Kutis serves notice that there is a shakeup in the St. Louis soccer hierarchy by blanking two-time U.S. Open Cup champion Simpkins, 2-0, in one of two St. Louis Major Soccer League games at Sportsman’s Park. The Raiders beat Brehenys, 4-1, in the afternoon’s other match. In the Kutis-Simpkins game, future U.S. Soccer Hall of Famer Bill Looby scores on a cross that beats Simpkins goalkeeper and future U.S. Soccer Hall of Famer Frank Borghi. Emil Gerth scores the other goal for Kutis. Meanwhile, Kutis goalkeeper Bob Burkard holds Simpkins scoreless with “uncanny” anticipation and “amazingly fast” reflexes, according to U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame journalist Dent McSkimming in the next day’s St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Ironically, the U.S. Open Cup trophy won by Simpkins earlier in the year is presented to Simpkins manager Joe Numi between games of the double-header. Simpkins also won the Open Cup in 1948. Looby, Burkard and other members of the 1950 Kutis team will become members of a new Kutis team formed from the Raiders, who include a number of stellar players such as future U.S. Soccer Hall of Famer Harry Keough. The resulting combination of the Raiders with the 1950 Kutis players will become perhaps the most dominant soccer team in the United States during the second half of the 1950s. The team will win six U.S. Amateur Cups and one U.S. Open Cup from 1956-61.