Jimmy Mills (1 July 1894 – 8 October 1990) was a Scottish-American soccer

wing-half In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

and coach. He gained his greatest fame as a coach, taking his teams to five league, three league cup titles and two McGuire Cup titles In 1956, he coached the US Olympic soccer team at the

1956 Summer Olympics The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XVI Olympiad and officially branded as Melbourne 1956, were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, from 22 November to 8 December ...

. He is a member of the

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 ...

Player

Born in

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

, Mills moved first to Paisley then to

Bridgeton, Glasgow Bridgeton (, ) is a district to the east of Glasgow city centre. Shires of Scotland, Historically part of Lanarkshire, it is bounded by Glasgow Green to the west, Dalmarnock to the east and south, Calton, Glasgow, Calton to the north-west at A ...

as a young boy. He began his career with St. Clemens in the Churches League. In 1909, he began playing in the

Scottish Junior Football Association The Scottish Junior Football Association (SJFA) is an affiliated national association of the Scottish Football Association and is the governing body for the junior grade of football (soccer), football in Scotland. The term "junior" refers to the ...

with Shettleston F.C., Vale of Clyde F.C. and Kirkintilloch Rob Roy. He then moved to Bathgate F.C. when he was seventeen. He also spent time with Clyde F.C. before transferring to Canada in 1920 where he joined the Toronto Caledonians of the National League. In 1923, he moved to the United States, but does not show up on a professional roster until the 1924–1925 season when he played twenty-two games for the Philadelphia Field Club of the American Soccer League. He saw time in only four games at the start of the 1925-1926 season before moving to Fairhill F.C. of the Allied League of Philadelphia. Mills would continue to play for Fairhill until 1935.

Coach

When Mills joined Fairhill F.C. in 1925, he became the team's coach as well as a player. Over the next sixty years, Mills forged a legendary coaching reputation as he led multiple teams at the collegiate, amateur, professional and national levels. While Mills continued to coach and play for Fairhill until 1953, he also became a college coach when he replaced David Gould as the head coach at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

in 1938. He spent only one season at Penn before becoming the head coach of the boys' team at The Episcopal Academy. He coached the boys for the next twelve years. In 1942, Fairhill F.C. purchased the professional Philadelphia Nationals of the American Soccer League and elevated Mills to head coach. A traditionally poorly performing team, the Nationals suffered under several poor seasons before Mills slowly built them into the league's dominant team. Beginning in 1948, Mills' led the Nationals to a string of league (1949, 1950, 1951 and 1953 ) and Lewis Cup (1949, 1951 and 1952) titles. In 1953, Brookhattan hired Mills. He spent two seasons with the team before returning to Philadelphia in 1956 when Uhrik Truckers hired Mills. He promptly took them to the league championship. By that time, Mills had established himself at the collegiate level. His year at Penn and his work at the Episcopal Academy brought him to the attention of

Haverford College Haverford College ( ) is a private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Haverford, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded as a men's college in 1833 by members of the Religious Society of Fr ...

which hired him in 1949. He remained in that position until 1970, coaching every season except 1956 when he headed the US Olympic soccer team. Mills compiled a 126–94–21 record in his twenty seasons with Haverford which continues to host an annual Jimmy Mills Soccer Tournament. During many of his years with Haverford, Mills held practice only after working all day repairing looms at a Philadelphia carpet mill. In 1974, he became an assistant coach at Girard College before moving up to the head coach position in 1981. In 1983, a heart attack ended his coaching career at the age of 88. Mills also spent twenty years as the coach of the Lighthouse Boys Club, taking the team to twenty consecutive city championships as well as the 1957 and 1967 US U-19 championships (McGuire Cup).

Olympic team

In 1956, Mills coached the US Olympic soccer team at the

. While the team lost to Yugoslavia, 9–1, in the first round, it had a successful pre-tournament tour of Asia. Playing a mix of national and club teams, the US went 5–3 on the tour.

Honors

Mills was inducted into the

in 1954 and the NSCAA Hall of Fame in 1991. In 1981, he was also honoured with the Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Soccer Association's Service to Youth Award. Mills was an inaugural inductee in to the United Soccer Coaches Hall of Fame in 1991.

Coach

Philadelphia Nationals * American Soccer League ** champions: 1948–49, 1949–50, 1950–51, 1952–53 *

Lewis Cup The Lewis Cup was an American soccer trophy established in 1914 as the championship trophy for the amateur Blue Mountain League, which was composed of clubs from the Lehigh Valley region of northeastern Pennsylvania. It was later awarded to the win ...

** winners: 1949, 1951, 1952 **runners-up: 1950, 1953 *

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 ...

** runners-up:

1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2025 * January 2 – Luis ...

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Cairo Fire, Black Saturday in Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, ...

Brookhattan * American Soccer League ** runners-up: 1953–54 Uhrik Truckers * American Soccer League ** champions: 1954–55, 1955–56 *

** winners: 1955 Haverford Fords *

Middle Atlantic Conferences The Middle Atlantic Conferences (MAC) is an umbrella organization of three List of NCAA conferences, intercollegiate athletic conferences that competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division III, Division III. The 1 ...

** winners: 1950, 1953, 1954

References

External links

National Soccer Hall of Fame

Coach Legend
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mills, Jimmy 1894 births 1990 deaths Footballers from Dundee Scottish men's footballers Scottish expatriate men's footballers Scottish expatriate football managers Vale of Leven F.C. players Bathgate F.C. players Clyde F.C. players American Soccer League (1921–1933) players Philadelphia Field Club players American soccer coaches Penn Quakers men's soccer coaches Haverford Fords men's soccer coaches American Soccer League (1933–1983) coaches National Soccer Hall of Fame members Kirkintilloch Rob Roy F.C. players Glasgow United F.C. players Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Men's association football wing halves Scottish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate soccer coaches in the United States Olympic coaches for the United States 20th-century Scottish sportsmen