Ray Bernabei (November 26, 1925 – September 5, 2008) was a US

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 ...

fullback who played eleven seasons with the Harmarville Hurricanes. He was also a long time collegiate and professional referee. He is a member of both 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 ...

and the National Intercollegiate Soccer Officials Association (NISOA) Hall of Fame.

Player

Bernabei played as a youth player with the Indianolo Indians. He attended

Indiana University of Pennsylvania Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) is a Public university, public research university in Indiana, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education and Carnegie Classification o ...

, playing and coaching soccer at the school from 1946 to 1950. He was inducted into the school's Athletic Hall of Fame in 1996. In 1949, he joined the semi-professional Harmarville Hurricanes. He would play with Harmarville until his retirement in 1963. During these years, Harmarville was a national powerhouse winning the 1952 and 1956 U.S. Open Cups, and finishing runner up in 1953. Harmarville also lost in the finals of the 1950 and 1951 Amateur Cups.

Referee

Bernabei served as a collegiate and professional referee for forty-three years. During this time, he officiated two NCAA finals. He also served as the president and executive director of the National Intercollegiate Soccer Officials Association. He was inducted into the National Intercollegiate Soccer Officials Association (NISOA) Hall of Fame in 1976, the

in 1978, and received the Bill Jeffrey Award for outstanding service to intercollegiate soccer in 1985. He died in Florida from complications related to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

References

External links

National Soccer Hall of Fame profile

Obituary
1925 births 2008 deaths Sportspeople from New Castle, Pennsylvania American soccer coaches American men's soccer players American soccer referees Harmarville Hurricanes players National Soccer Hall of Fame members IUP Crimson Hawks men's soccer players Men's association football defenders 20th-century American sportsmen {{US-footy-defender-1920s-stub