Otto Decker (born 19 September 1930) is a German-American former

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 earned one

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

, scoring two goals, with the U.S. national team in 1953.

Youth

Decker and his brother

Rolf Rolf is a male given name and a surname. It originates in the Germanic name ''Hrolf'', itself a contraction of ''Hrodwulf'' ( Rudolf), a conjunction of the stem words ''hrod'' ("renown") + ''wulf'' ("wolf"). The Old Norse cognate is ''Hrólfr''. ...

were born in Germany, but grew up in England. In March 1939, their parents, Ilse and Hans, sent the two boys to England as part of the ''

kindertransport The ''Kindertransport'' (German for "children's transport") was an organised rescue effort of children from Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, total ...

'' at the outset of World War Two. Decker attended the

Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe The Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe, is a selective boys' grammar school situated in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. As a state school, it does not charge fees for pupils to attend, but they must pass the 11 plus, an exam that some pr ...

, England, from 1948 to 1950 after transferring from Wycombe Technical Institute in 1948. While at RGS, he played both soccer and

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

, as the

wicket keeper In cricket, the wicket-keeper is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket, ready to stop deliveries that pass the batsman, and take a catch, stump the batsman out, or run out a batsman when occasion arises. The wicket-ke ...

National team

Decker earned his lone cap as a first-half substitute in the only U.S. game of 1953, a 6–3 loss to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. He came on after 30 minutes and scored in the 59th and 67th minutes. He represented the U.S. as a halfback in soccer at the

1965 Maccabiah Games The 7th Maccabiah Games in 1965 saw 1,500 athletes from 29 different countries compete in 21 sports. It was the first Maccabiah Games for Iran, Jamaica, Peru, and Venezuela. The United States delegation won the most gold medals, followed by Israel ...

in Israel.

References

External links

* * American men's soccer players Competitors at the 1965 Maccabiah Games Maccabiah Games competitors for the United States English men's footballers Wycombe Wanderers F.C. players Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United Kingdom English emigrants to the United States Kindertransport refugees Jewish American soccer players People educated at the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe United States men's international soccer players American Soccer League (1933–1983) players New York Hakoah players 1930 births Living people Men's association football forwards People educated at John Hampden Grammar School 21st-century American Jews Place of birth missing (living people) 20th-century American sportsmen {{US-footy-forward-1930s-stub