Adam Stanislaw Wolanin (November 13, 1919 – October 26, 1987) was a

Polish American Polish Americans ( pl, Polonia amerykańska) are Americans who either have total or partial Polish ancestry, or are citizens of the Republic of Poland. There are an estimated 9.15 million self-identified Polish Americans, representing about 2.8 ...

soccer

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

who was a member of the U.S. national team at the

1950 FIFA World Cup The 1950 FIFA World Cup was the fourth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams and held in Brazil from 24 June to 16 July 1950. The planned 1942 and 1946 World Cups were ...

. He is a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame.

Professional career

Wolanin began his professional career with Polish First Division club

Pogoń Lwów LKS Pogoń Lwów is a former Polish professional sports club which was located in Lwów, Lwów Voivodeship (now Lviv in Ukraine), and existed from 1904 until the outbreak of World War II in 1939. It was the second oldest Polish football club beh ...

when he was seventeen. When Germany invaded Poland, sparking

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

in September 1939, Wolanin fled to England where he played for English First Division club

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre rivers, and ...

. However, he never cracked the first team before moving to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. He eventually settled in Chicago where he played for the Maroons and A.A.C. Eagles of the

National Soccer League of Chicago The National Soccer League (Chicago), formed by the merger of the Chicago Soccer League and International Soccer Football League of Chicago in 1928, is a semi-professional U.S. soccer league which is the oldest continuously operating soccer league ...

. In 1950, he joined the

Chicago Falcons The Chicago Falcons were an American soccer team which won the 1953 National Challenge Cup, the precursor to the US Open Cup, and also participated in the Chicago-area National Soccer League in the 1950s. The Falcons won promotion to the NSL Majo ...

, winning the

1953 National Challenge Cup The 1953 National Challenge Cup was the 40th edition of the USSFA's annual open soccer championship. The Chicago Falcons defeated the Harmarville Hurricanes (a suburban Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state) ...

with the team.

National team

In 1950, Wolanin was called up to the U.S. national team for the

. He played in the first U.S. game of the tournament, a 3–1 loss to

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

. Wolanin was inducted, along with the rest of the 1950 U.S. World Cup team, into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 1976 and the Illinois Soccer Hall of Fame in 1992.Illinois Soccer Hall of Fame
/ref> He is buried in Maryhill Catholic Cemetery & Mausoleum, in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Roc ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wolanin, Adam 1919 births 1987 deaths A.A.C. Eagles players American men's soccer players Blackpool F.C. players Chicago Maroons soccer players National Soccer Hall of Fame members National Soccer League (Chicago) players Footballers from Lviv Sportspeople from Park Ridge, Illinois Soccer players from Cook County, Illinois Polish men's footballers Polish emigrants to the United States United States men's international soccer players 1950 FIFA World Cup players Pogoń Lwów players FC Spartak Moscow players Soviet Top League players Expatriate men's footballers in the Soviet Union Men's association football forwards