Archibald Louis Strimel (June 30, 1918 – March 29, 1990) was an American

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

who was a member of the 1948 U.S. Olympic soccer team. He also earned two caps with the U.S. national team that year.

Biography

Strimel graduated from Cecil High School where he played soccer, basketball and baseball. In 1935, Strimel and his team mates won the Pennsylvania Class B High School Basketball championship. He then went to work in the coal mines before being drafted into the Army during

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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, Strimel played for

Morgan Strasser Morgan F.C. was an early twentieth century U.S. soccer team from Morgan, Pennsylvania. Morgan is located in South Fayette Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. The team became known as Morgan Strasser after Peter Strasser purchased it. History ...

. He also played for

Pittsburgh Beadling Pittsburgh Beadling is an amateur American soccer team founded in 1898 in the Pittsburgh suburb of Upper St. Clair, Pennsylvania. It won the 1954 National Amateur Cup. It claims to be the oldest continuously operating soccer club in the United S ...

In 1948, Strimel was selected for the U.S. soccer team at the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

. He played in the 9–0 loss to Italy in the first round of the Olympics, which eliminated the U.S. from the tournament. Following the Olympics, the U.S. played two full internationals, an 11–0 loss to

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

, followed by a 5–0 loss to

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

on August 11, 1948. At the time he was selected for the Olympic team, he was playing for the Curry Vets of Curry, Pennsylvania. Curry was a top amateur team, losing the 1948 National Amateur Cup to Fall River Ponta Delgada. He was also a successful minor league baseball player for the

Brooklyn Dodgers The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association (19th century), American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the ...

. In 2009, Strimel was inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame.Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame: Archie Strimel
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References

1918 births 1990 deaths Sportspeople from Washington County, Pennsylvania American men's soccer players United States men's international soccer players Olympic soccer players for the United States Footballers at the 1948 Summer Olympics Morgan Strasser players Pittsburgh Beadling players Soccer players from Pennsylvania Men's association football goalkeepers United States Army personnel of World War II {{US-footy-goalkeeper-stub