Walter Alfred Bahr (April 1, 1927 – June 18, 2018) was an American professional

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, considered one of the greatest ever in the United States. He was the long-time captain of the U.S. men's national team and played in the

1950 FIFA World Cup The 1950 FIFA World Cup was the 4th edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held in Brazil from 24 June to 16 July 1950. It was the first Wo ...

when the U.S. defeated England 1–0. Bahr's three sons Casey,

Chris Chris is a short form of various names including Christopher, Christian, Christina, and Christine. Chris is also used as a name in its own right, however it is not as common. People with the given name * Chris Abani (born 1966), Nigerian autho ...

, and

Matt Matt may refer to: *Matt (name), people with the given name ''Matt'' or Matthew, meaning "gift from God", or the surname Matt *In British English, of a surface: having a non-glossy finish, see gloss (material appearance) *Matt, Switzerland, a mu ...

, all played professional soccer in the defunct

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League (NASL) was the top-level major professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984. It is considered the first soccer league to be successful on a national scale in the ...

. Casey and Chris also played for the U.S. Olympic team, and Chris and Matt later became

placekicker In gridiron football, the placekicker (PK), or simply kicker (K), is the player responsible for attempts at scoring Field goal (football), field goals and extra points. In most cases, the placekicker also serves as the team's kickoff specialist ...

s in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

, each earning two Super Bowl rings.

Playing career

Bahr, a native of

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, began playing soccer at the age of 11 and joined the

Philadelphia Nationals Philadelphia Nationals was the name of two American soccer clubs based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that were both members of the professional American Soccer League. Passon F.C./Passon Phillies/Philadelphia Nationals Originally, and amateur cl ...

of the professional American Soccer League as an amateur player. He was paid a great compliment during the Scottish national team tour of the U.S. in 1949 by former Scottish international Tommy Muirhead, who wrote in the ''

Glasgow Daily Mail Glasgow is the most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in west central Scotland. It is the third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom and the 27th-most-populous city in Europe, and comprises 23 wards w ...

'', "Bahr is good enough to play for any First Division team in the United Kingdom." After participating in the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and officially branded as London 1948, were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus cau ...

, Bahr turned professional and helped his club win ASL titles in 1950, 1951, 1953, and 1955. In the summer of 1953, he helped Montréal Hakoah FC reach the Canadian final. He then switched to the Uhrik Truckers, another team in the Philadelphia area, and won the ASL title in 1956. He then joined

Montreal Sparta Montreal is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest in Canada, and the ninth-largest in North America. It was founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", and is now named after Mount Royal, the triple-pea ...

in late August where he won the 1956 Quebec Cup. As professional soccer players at that time made relatively little money, Bahr also was a high school teacher during his playing years. He coached the Philadelphia Spartans of the American Soccer League from 1969 to 1970. He moved to the college ranks to coach Temple University from 1970 to 1973. He then coached Penn State to 12 NCAA tournament appearances from 1974 to 1988, including taking the Nittany Lions to the 1979 semifinals, when he was named College Coach of the Year. He coached two of his sons early in his tenure at Penn State. Pennsylvania State University Coaching Legacy 100 Years, 4 Generations of Penn State Coaching History Bahr is linked to Coach Bill Jeffrey, the head coach of

Penn State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsyl ...

's men's soccer program in the early 1920s, who later became the men's national team head coach in the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

. Coach Jeffrey died in 1966 and his coaching lineage worked through four generations at Penn State University. By 1970, the captain of Jeffrey's 1950 U.S. team, Walter Bahr became the coach at Penn State from 1974 to 1988. His assistant, Barry Gorman, would later succeed him as head coach, keeping the Penn State job through the 2009 season. In 2021, the connection to Jeffrey continues with Coach Gorman's youth player, Fraser Kershaw, who took the head coaching job at

Penn State Altoona Penn State Altoona is a commonwealth campus of The Pennsylvania State University located in Logan Township, Pennsylvania. It is one of four full-fledged four year institutions in the Commonwealth Campus network. The full-time student count w ...

. The coaching connection reached four separate generations of

, reaching a 100-year continual coaching succession.

National team

Bahr was selected to the

United States men's national soccer team The United States men's national soccer team (USMNT), officially recognized as USA by FIFA, represents the United States in men's international Association football, soccer. The team is governed by the United States Soccer Federation, which is ...

in 1949 and appeared in 19 games, with one goal. In the

, the U.S. upset the English team 1–0, with the goal scored by

Joe Gaetjens Joseph Edouard Gaetjens ( ; , 1924 – , 1964 resumed was a Haitian soccer player who played as a center forward. Born in Haiti, he represented its national team before and after playing for the United States team in the 1950 FIFA Wor ...

off a pass by Bahr. The entire team was inducted into 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 ...

in 1976. Bahr was featured in the 2009 soccer documentary '' A Time for Champions'' discussing the U.S. upset victory over England in the 1950 World Cup. Bahr was portrayed by

Wes Bentley Wes Bentley (born September 4, 1978) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Ricky Fitts in '' American Beauty'' (1999), which earned him a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Supporting Actor; Seneca Crane in ''The Hunger Games' ...

in the 2005 movie '' The Game of Their Lives'', which has been distributed in DVD under the title "Miracle Match."

Personal life

Bahr's three sons, Casey,

and

, played professional soccer in the original

. Casey and Chris also played for the U.S. Olympic team, while Chris and Matt became

s for the NFL and won

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...

titles. The last living member of the 1950 U.S. World Cup team, Bahr died on June 18, 2018, in

Boalsburg, Pennsylvania Boalsburg is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Harris Township, Centre County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the State College, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 3,722 at ...

, from complications related to a broken hip.

References

External links

*Lopez, Tobias

February 22, 2004 * Cirino, Antonio (Tony) US Soccer Vs The World, Damon Press 1983 – {{DEFAULTSORT:Bahr, Walter 1927 births 2018 deaths National Soccer Hall of Fame members Olympic soccer players for the United States Footballers at the 1948 Summer Olympics 1950 FIFA World Cup players United States men's international soccer players Lighthouse Boys Club players American Soccer League (1933–1983) players Philadelphia Nationals players Uhrik Truckers players American soccer coaches American men's soccer players American Soccer League (1933–1983) coaches Philadelphia Spartans coaches Penn State Nittany Lions men's soccer coaches Temple Owls men's soccer coaches Soccer players from Philadelphia Men's association football defenders 20th-century American sportsmen

Playing career

National team

Personal life

See also

References

External links