Bartholomew "Bertie" or "Bart" McGhee (April 30, 1899 – January 26, 1979) was a

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player who played as a forward. Born in Scotland, he played for the United States national team at the

1930 FIFA World Cup The 1930 FIFA World Cup was the inaugural FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in Uruguay from 13 to 30 July 1930. FIFA, ...

and scored the second goal in World Cup history against

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. He was inducted into the U.S.

National Soccer Hall of Fame The National Soccer Hall of Fame is a public-private partnership among FC Dallas, the City of Frisco, Frisco Independent School District, and the U.S. Soccer Federation, and currently located in Toyota Stadium (Texas), Toyota Stadium in Frisco, T ...

in 1986.

Youth

McGhee was the son of former Hibernian player and Heart of Midlothian manager James McGhee, and the brother of Philadelphia Field Club forward Jimmy McGhee. McGhee's father was a renowned Scottish player who appeared with

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

in an 1886 game with

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. In September 1910, McGhee's father decided to leave Scotland and emigrate to the United States. It took him two years to get settled and it was not until 1912 that Bart McGhee, his mother and elder brother by two years, Jimmy, joined his father in the U.S. When they arrived in the U.S., the family settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Playing

Amateur

When he was nineteen, McGhee began playing for New York Shipbuilding, located in

Camden, New Jersey Camden is a City (New Jersey), city in Camden County, New Jersey, Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan region. The city was incorporated on February 13, 1828.Snyder, John P''The Story of ...

, of the South Jersey League. The next season, he moved to Wolfenden Shore, of the Allied American Football Association; playing with them until at least March 1921 when he was on trial with Bethlehem Steel F.C. before moving to Philadelphia Hibernian of the National Soccer League of Philadelphia. He played with them from 1921 to 1922.

Professional

In 1922, McGhee signed with the New York Field Club of the American Soccer League. He spent two seasons with New York before moving to Fleisher Yarn in 1924. Fleisher had existed for years as an amateur powerhouse, and in 1924 the team went professional. It was unable to maintain itself as a professional team and folded at the end of the season. When Fleisher failed, McGhee moved to Indiana Flooring which played in New York City. McGhee spent two seasons with Indiana. In 1927, Charles Stoneham, owner of the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

team, bought Indiana Flooring. He renamed the team the New York Nationals. That year the original

ASL club folded. Stoneham acquired the rights to the name and used it for his club. McGhee played with this team, under all its names, through 1932, except for a loan period to Philadelphia Field Club during the 1928–1929 season. In 1928, the New York Nationals won the

National Challenge Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a knockout cup competition in men's soccer in the United States. It is the country's oldest ongoing national soccer competition. The competition was first held duri ...

. In 1929, the club then won the Lewis Cup, the ASL cup competition. Under the new name, New York Giants, the club also won the 1930–1931 ASL championship. After 1929 ASL statistics become patchy as the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

and the ASL/FIFA Soccer Wars took a toll on the league. Despite this, McGhee played at least 350 games and scored 137 goals from 1921 to 1931. According to the

, "There are also reports in some publications that he later played in England for Hull City. However, he '' ic' son Ed, who lives in Riverton, New Jersey, told me that, apart from his trip to South America, Bart never left the U.S."

National team

McGhee earned three

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

with the U.S. men's national team, all coming in the

. He scored the first goal for a United States team in World Cup competition in the opening victory over

, which became the 2nd goal in World Cup history. In 1986, the

inducted McGhee. During his ASL career Bart McGhee played in 350 league games and scored 127 goals, almost all of them from the left wing position.

International goals

United States' goal tally first

References

External links

Profile at the National Soccer Hall of Fame

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mcghee, Bart 1899 births 1930 FIFA World Cup players 1979 deaths American men's soccer players United States men's international soccer players Scottish men's footballers Philadelphia Hibernian players American Soccer League (1921–1933) players New York Field Club players Fleisher Yarn players Scottish emigrants to the United States Indiana Flooring players Philadelphia Field Club players New York Nationals (ASL) players New York Giants (soccer, 1930–1932) players National Soccer Hall of Fame members Men's association football forwards Scottish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Scottish expatriate men's footballers 20th-century Scottish sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen