Bartholomew "Bertie" or "Bart" McGhee (April 30, 1899 – January 26, 1979) 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 ...

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who typically played left wing forward. He played for the

United States men's national soccer team The United States men's national soccer team (USMNT) represents the United States in men's international soccer competitions. The team is controlled by the United States Soccer Federation and is a member of FIFA and CONCACAF. The U.S. team ha ...

at the

1930 FIFA World Cup The 1930 FIFA World Cup was the inaugural FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national football teams. It took place in Uruguay from 13 to 30 July 1930. FIFA, football's international governing body, selected Uruguay as host nation ...

, and scored the second goal in World Cup history against

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. He was inducted into the U.S.

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 1986.

Youth

McGhee was the son of former Hibernian player and Heart of Midlothian manager James McGhee, and the brother of Philadelphia Field Club forward

Jimmy McGhee James McGhee (born in Edinburgh, Scotland) was a Scottish soccer inside forward who spent at least four seasons in the first division American Soccer League. Youth McGhee was the son of former Hibernian player and Heart of Midlothian manag ...

. McGhee's father was a renowned Scottish player who appeared with

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

in an 1886 game with

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. McGhee's father had a controversial term as the manager of Hearts. When he finally resigned on December 6, 1909, he began assessing his options. In September 1910 he decided to leave Scotland and emigrate to the United States. It took Jimmy McGhee two years to get settled and it was not until 1912 that McGhee, his mother and younger brother Jimmy joined his father in the U.S. When they arrived in the U.S., the family settled in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, Pennsylvania.

Playing

Amateur

When he was nineteen, McGhee began playing for

New York Shipbuilding The New York Shipbuilding Corporation (or New York Ship for short) was an American shipbuilding company that operated from 1899 to 1968, ultimately completing more than 500 vessels for the U.S. Navy, the United States Merchant Marine, the United ...

, located in

Camden, New Jersey Camden is a city in and the county seat of Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Camden is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan area and is located directly across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the 2020 ...

, of the South Jersey League. The next season, he moved to Wolfenden Shore, of the Allied American Football Association; playing with them until at least March 1921 when he was on trial with Bethlehem Steel F.C. before moving to

Philadelphia Hibernian Philadelphia Hibernian, also known as Hibernian F.C., was an early twentieth century U.S. soccer team which played in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. History According to Dave Litterer, “Philadelphia Hibernian was a perennial powerhouse in the Philad ...

of the National Soccer League of Philadelphia. He played with them from 1921 to 1922.

Professional

In 1922, McGhee signed with the

New York Field Club New York F.C. (also known as the New York Field Club) was a name used by two early twentieth-century American soccer clubs. History Founded in 1916 as the New York Football Club, the team was originally a member of the semi-professional National ...

of the American Soccer League. He spent two seasons with New York before moving to

Fleisher Yarn Fleisher Yarn began as an amateur company soccer club of the SB & BW Fleisher Manufacturing Company in Philadelphia and quickly became a national amateur soccer power. They won the Philadelphia Industrial League championship in 1920/21, both the All ...

in 1924. Fleisher had existed for years as an amateur powerhouse, but in 1924 the team went professional. It was unable to maintain itself as a professional team and folded at the end of the season. When Fleisher failed, McGhee moved to

Indiana Flooring Indiana Flooring were a New York City soccer team that played in the American Soccer League between 1924 and 1927. They replaced New York Field Club. Before joining the ASL, the team had played in various state leagues. Ernest Viberg, a former ...

which played in New York City. McGhee spent two seasons with Indiana. In 1927,

Charles Stoneham Charles Abraham Stoneham (July 5, 1876 – January 6, 1936) was the owner of the New York Giants baseball team, New York Nationals soccer team, the center of numerous corruption scandals and the instigator of the "Soccer Wars" which destroyed ...

, owner of the

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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 ...

team, bought Indiana Flooring. He renamed the team the New York Nationals. To make matters even more confusing, Stoneham renamed the team again, in 1932. That year the original

ASL club folded. Stoneham acquired the rights to the name and used it for his club. McGhee played with this team, under all its names, through 1932, except for a loan period to Philadelphia Field Club during the 1928–1929 season. In 1928, the New York Nationals won 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 ...

. In 1929, the club then won the Lewis Cup, the ASL cup competition. Under the new name, New York Giants, the club also won the 1930–1931 ASL championship. After 1929 ASL statistics become patchy as 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 ASL/FIFA Soccer Wars took a toll on the league. Despite this, McGhee played at least 350 games and scored 137 goals from 1921–1931. According to the

, "There are also reports in some publications that he later played in England for Hull City. However, he '' ic' son Ed, who lives in Riverton, New Jersey, told me that, apart from his trip to South America, Bart never left the U.S."

National team

McGhee earned three

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

with the U.S. national team, all coming in the

. He scored the first goal for a U.S. team in World Cup competition in the opening victory over

, which became the 2nd goal in the history of World Cups. In 1986, the

inducted McGhee. During his ASL career Bart McGhee played in 350 league games and scored 127 goals, almost all of them from the left wing position. He was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame posthumously in 1986.

International goals

United States' goal tally first

References

External links

htm Profile at the National Soccer Hall of Fame

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mcghee, Bart 1899 births 1930 FIFA World Cup players 1979 deaths American soccer players United States men's international soccer players Scottish footballers Philadelphia Hibernian players American Soccer League (1921–1933) players New York Field Club players Fleisher Yarn players Scottish emigrants to the United States Indiana Flooring players Philadelphia Field Club players New York Nationals (ASL) players New York Giants (soccer, 1930–1932) players National Soccer Hall of Fame members Association football forwards Scottish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate soccer players in the United States Scottish expatriate footballers