Adelino William Gonsalves (August 10, 1908 – July 17, 1977) 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 ...
player, sometimes described as the "
Babe Ruth
George Herman "Babe" Ruth Jr. (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Su ...
of American Soccer". He spent over 25 years playing in various American professional leagues and was a member of the U.S. squad at the
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...
in
1930
Events
January
* January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will be ...
and
1934
Events
January–February
* January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established.
* January 15 – The 8.0 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake, Nepal–Bihar earthquake strik ...
. He is a member of the
National Soccer Hall of Fame
The National Soccer Hall of Fame is a private, non-profit institution established in 1979 and currently located in Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. The Hall of Fame honors soccer achievements in the United States. Induction ...
.
Youth
Gonsalves spent his early years in
Fall River, Massachusetts
Fall River is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. The City of Fall River's population was 94,000 at the 2020 United States Census, making it the tenth-largest city in the state.
Located along the eastern shore of Mount H ...
. He was the seventh of nine children born to Augustine and Rose Gonsalves (who had immigrated from
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
two years before his birth). An excellent athlete, Gonsalves boxed and played both
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
and soccer as a boy. When he was fourteen, Gonsalves began playing for Pioneer, a local amateur team. He then went on to play for Charlton Mill and Liberal. Gonsalves grew in prominence in the local leagues. In 1926, he signed with Lusitania Recreation Club of
East Cambridge, Massachusetts
East Cambridge is a neighborhood of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Referred to in modern times as Area 1, East Cambridge is bounded by the Charles River and the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston on the east, the Somerville border on the north, Bro ...
. In 1927, Lusitania won both the Boston city and District League titles.
Professional career
In 1927,
Boston Soccer Club
The Boston Soccer Club was a member of the American Soccer League. They were renamed the Boston Bears for the Fall 1929 ASL season.
In 1925, the ASL and the St. Louis Soccer League (SLSL) boycotted the National Challenge Cup, now known as the ...
("Wonder Workers") of the
American Soccer League (ASL) signed Gonsalves. Nineteen years old at the time, Gonsalves joined a team which had taken second in the ASL the previous season and was stocked with talented international players. Finding it difficult to break into the starting lineup, Gonsalves did not play a game with Boston until Christmas Eve. However, given the chance, he grabbed it and scored a goal two minutes later. He went on to find the net six times in his next twenty games. That season the Wonder Workers also took the league title.
Gonsalves spent one more season with the Wonder Workers before moving to the
Fall River Marksmen
Fall River Marksmen was an American soccer club based in Fall River, Massachusetts. They originally played as Fall River United before becoming known as the Marksmen after their owner, Sam Mark. During the 1920s and early 1930s they were one of t ...
of his hometown in 1929. From the time he joined the Marksmen until the team merged with the
New York Soccer Club New York Soccer Club ( Youth Soccer Team ) was the name of a New York soccer team that, in 1930, played briefly in the American Soccer League.
In 1923, New York fur merchant Maurice Vandeweghe - the father and grandfather of later basketball stars ...
in the summer of 1930 to form the
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...
, Gonsalves played seventy-five games and scored forty-nine goals. Additionally, he was the team's assists leader.
While playing with the Marksmen, Gonsalves formed a lethal striking partnership with another local player,
Bert Patenaude
Bertrand "Bert" Arthur Patenaude (; November 4, 1909November 4, 1974) was an American soccer player who played as a forward. Although it was formerly disputed, he is now officially credited by FIFA as scorer of the first hat-trick in the World ...
. The two led Fall River to the
National Challenge Cup
The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a knockout cup competition in men's soccer in the United States of America. It is the oldest ongoing national soccer competition in that country.
The 2023 U.S. O ...
title in 1930 and 1931. Overall, Gonslaves won the tournament a record eight times.
The onset of the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
and the ''Soccer Wars'' had taken a toll on the ASL and teams began to merge or fold. The Marksmen, one of the strongest ASL teams, had merged with the New York Soccer Club to form the New York Yankees in 1930. Then in 1931, the Yankees moved to
New Bedford, Massachusetts
New Bedford (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ) is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, Bristol County, Massachusetts. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast (Massachusetts), South Coast region. Up throug ...
where the team took up the name of the defunct
New Bedford Whalers
New Bedford Whalers was the name of three American soccer teams based in New Bedford, Massachusetts. The first Whalers played in the Southern New England Soccer League between 1914 and 1918. The second Whalers played in the American Soccer League ...
. In 1932, the team moved, this time back to Fall River where it was known as
Fall River F.C.
Fall River Football Club, also referred to as Fall River Field Club, was the name used by two United States soccer clubs, based in Fall River, Massachusetts. Both played in the American Soccer League during the early 1930s. The name is often used ...
By this time the American Soccer League was collapsing and Gonsalves began looking for other playing opportunities. In 1933
Alex McNab
Alexander McNab (27 December 1894 – 3 April 1960) was a Scottish-American soccer player and coach. He began his career in Scotland before moving to the United States. In the US, he won six consecutive National Challenge Cups with teams from b ...
, a former teammate who was coaching
Stix, Baer and Fuller F.C.
Stix, Baer and Fuller F.C. was a U.S. soccer club which played in the St. Louis Soccer League from 1931 to 1934. The team was known as Hellrungs from 1929 to 1931, St. Louis Central Breweries F.C. from 1934 to 1935 and St. Louis Shamrocks from 19 ...
of the
St. Louis Soccer League
The St. Louis Soccer League was based in St. Louis, Missouri and existed from 1915 to 1938. At its founding, it was the only fully professional soccer league in the United States. The league was founded from two teams from the St. Louis Soccer F ...
contacted Gonsalves and offered him a contract. Gonsalves took the opportunity and moved west. That year, Gonsalves added another National Cup title to his resume, this time with his new team. Gonsalves spent the 1933–1934 season with Stix, Baer and Fuller, winning the league title. At the end of the season, he joined the U.S. national team for the
1934 FIFA World Cup
The 1934 FIFA World Cup was the second edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. It took place in Italy from 27 May to 10 June 1934.
The 1934 World Cup was the first in w ...
in Italy.
On his return to St. Louis, Gonsalves found that McNab had moved to a new team,
St. Louis Central Breweries F.C.
Stix, Baer and Fuller F.C. was a U.S. soccer club which played in the St. Louis Soccer League from 1931 to 1934. The team was known as Hellrungs from 1929 to 1931, St. Louis Central Breweries F.C. from 1934 to 1935 and St. Louis Shamrocks from 19 ...
Gonsalves made the move as well and spent the 1934–1935 season with Central Breweries, winning the league title and the 1935 National Cup. In 1935, Gonsalves moved, this time to the
St. Louis Shamrocks. The Shamrocks went to both the 1936 and 1937 National Cup championships, but lost both times. In October 1937, Gonsalves quit the Shamrocks and signed with St. Patrick's. However, Shamrocks sued St. Patrick's and St. Patrick's settled out of court by agreeing to a player trade. Despite the agreement, Gonsalves decided not to play for either team and instead signed with Beltmars in the semi-professional second division St. Louis Municipal League. In February 1938, Gonsalves was back in the SLSL with
South Side Radio South Side Radio was a U.S. 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 p ...
. He finished the season with the South Siders before moving to
Chicago Manhattan Beer. Then in 1940, he moved back east, joining
Healy F.C. of the
National Soccer League of New York The National Soccer League of New York (also known as the National League of New York) was an amateur U.S. soccer league which served as a lower division for the ''de facto'' first division American Soccer League from the 1920s into the 1950s. Th ...
, winning the 1941 league title. In 1941, he moved, this time to the
Kearny Scots
The Kearny Scots are an American soccer club based in Kearny, New Jersey. The club presently plays in the Eastern Premier Soccer League, which is a United States Adult Soccer Association-affiliated league and an amateur affiliate of the professio ...
of the second
American Soccer League (ASL) which was created in 1933 following the collapse of the first ASL. Gonsalves spent only one season with the Scots before moving to
Brooklyn Hispano
The Brooklyn Hispano was an American soccer club based in Brooklyn, New York that was an inaugural member of the reformed American Soccer League. The club was named the Brooklyn Giants for the 1942/43 season only.
The Hispano club competed in th ...
. Uncharacteristically for him, Gonsalves spent the next five seasons with Brooklyn. In his first season with Brooklyn, he scored eight goals in sixteen games. Brooklyn also won the National Challenge Cup in 1943 and 1944.
In 1947, Gonsalves left Hispano to play for the
Newark Germans of the lower division
German American Soccer League
The Cosmopolitan Soccer League is a regional soccer league consisting of semi-pro and amateur teams based in and around New York City. Established in 1923, it is one of the oldest soccer leagues in the United States and has contributed greatly ...
. In 1948, the team became known simply as Newark F.C. Gonsalves remained with the team until his retirement from playing professionally in 1952.
According to Steve Holroyd, in a professional career spanning twenty-five years, "Gonsalves was also the consummate gentleman on the pitch: legend has it he was never cautioned or ejected from any match for rough play or ungentlemanly conduct."
National team
Gonsalves played six times for 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 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, including the first two
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...
s in
1930
Events
January
* January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will be ...
and
1934
Events
January–February
* January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established.
* January 15 – The 8.0 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake, Nepal–Bihar earthquake strik ...
. He scored one goal for the U.S. national team.
Gonsalves was part of the inaugural induction class into the United States
National Soccer Hall of Fame
The National Soccer Hall of Fame is a private, non-profit institution established in 1979 and currently located in Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. The Hall of Fame honors soccer achievements in the United States. Induction ...
in 1950.
Notes
References
External links
"Meet The Babe Ruth of American Soccer" by American soccer historian Steve Holroyd
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gonsalves, Billy
United States men's international soccer players
National Soccer Hall of Fame members
National Soccer League of New York players
American Soccer League (1921–1933) players
Boston Wonder Workers players
Fall River Marksmen players
New York Yankees (soccer) players
New Bedford Whalers players
Fall River F.C. players
American Soccer League (1933–1983) players
Kearny Scots players
Brooklyn Hispano players
German-American Soccer League players
St. Louis Soccer League players
Stix, Baer and Fuller F.C. players
St. Louis Central Breweries players
St. Louis Shamrocks players
St. Louis South Side Radio players
Chicago Manhattan Beer players
People from Portsmouth, Rhode Island
Sportspeople from Fall River, Massachusetts
Soccer players from Rhode Island
Soccer players from Massachusetts
American people of Portuguese descent
1930 FIFA World Cup players
1934 FIFA World Cup players
1908 births
1977 deaths
Association football forwards
Association football defenders
American soccer players