George Lewis Capwell Cronin (July 1, 1902 – January 7, 1970), the American manager of the

Empresa Eléctrica del Ecuador Empresa Eléctrica del Ecuador (literally ''Electric Company of Ecuador'') or Emelec was the name of an Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru ...

("Electric Company of Ecuador") in

Guayaquil Guayaquil (), officially Santiago de Guayaquil, is the largest city in Ecuador and also the nation's economic capital and main port. The city is the capital (political), capital of Guayas Province and the seat of Guayaquil Canton. The city is ...

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

, founded

Club Sport Emelec Club Sport Emelec is an Ecuadorian sports club based in Guayaquil that is best known for their professional association football, football team. The football team plays in the Ecuadorian Serie A, the highest level of professional football in th ...

, a

sports club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...

, in 1929. Emelec, named for the first syllable of each word in the company's name, is one of Ecuador's leading football clubs.

Biography

Capwell was born on July 1, 1902, in

Olean, New York Olean ( ) is a Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in Cattaraugus County, New York, United States. Olean is the largest city in Cattaraugus County and serves as its financial, business, transportation and entertainment center. It is ...

. He was known for his love of athletics, particularly

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

, and

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 ...

. When he was young, he lived for a time in

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

, where his father was an engineer involved in the construction of the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal () is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. It cuts across the narrowest point of the Isthmus of Panama, and is a Channel (geography), conduit for maritime trade between th ...

. He studied

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (; RPI) is a private university, private research university in Troy, New York, United States. It is the oldest technological university in the English-speaking world and the Western Hemisphere. It was establishe ...

. After graduating, he took a job as an assistant engineer at a power plant in

Cienfuegos Cienfuegos (), capital of Cienfuegos Province, is a city on the southern coast of Cuba. It is located about from Havana and has a population of 178,368 in 2022. Since the late 1960s, Cienfuegos has become one of Cuba's main industrial centers, ...

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

. He later spent time in Panama. Standing over tall and weighing over , Capwell was noted for his organizational and leadership skills.

Emelec

Capwell arrived in Guayaquil to work at Eléctrica on April 14, 1926. Soon after arriving, he founded a sports club, named for the first syllable of each word in the company's name: Emelec. He boxed and played basketball at the guard position; he organized basketball competitions at the company in 1927. He played the catcher's position in baseball games. Potential members of the boxing club had to perform well in a fight against one of the club's experienced boxers in order to gain membership. Capwell was not particularly interested in

association football 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 ...

, but a request from the employees led him to found a team, particularly since the workers were not particularly enthusiastic about Emelec's other sports. The football team, composed solely of Eléctrica workers, was founded on April 28, 1929. On September 17, 1929, the team—with Capwell on the field—defeated Vanguard 14–12 at a tournament in Guayaquil. It won its first title, a local league made up of business-backed teams in Guayaquil, in 1933. Emelec became Ecuador's first national football champions in 1957, and they have won 14 national titles. Emelec currently plays in the

Estadio George Capwell Estadio Banco del Pacífico Capwell is a multi-purpose stadium in Guayaquil, Ecuador. It is currently used mostly for football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ba ...

, built in 1945 in Guayaquil. Capwell played in the first game staged in the stadium, a baseball match against Oriente.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Capwell, George 1902 births 1970 deaths American expatriates in Ecuador American sports businesspeople People from Olean, New York Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute alumni 20th-century American businesspeople American men's soccer players American expatriate sportspeople in Ecuador Expatriate men's footballers in Ecuador C.S. Emelec footballers C.S. Emelec managers Soccer players from New York (state) Men's association football players not categorized by position