James J. Gallagher (June 7, 1901 – October 7, 1971) was a

Scottish American Scottish Americans or Scots Americans (Scottish Gaelic: ''Ameireaganaich Albannach''; sco, Scots-American) are Americans whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in Scotland. Scottish Americans are closely related to Scotch-Irish Americans, d ...

soccer right wing

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

who spent eleven seasons in the American Soccer League. He was a member of the U.S. soccer teams at the 1930 FIFA World Cup and

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 ...

. Gallagher was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 1986.

Youth

Gallagher moved to the U.S. with his mother when he was twelve, settling in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. When he was seventeen, he signed with Tebo Yacht Basin F.C. of the New York State League. In 1920, Tebo lost to Brooklyn Robins Dry Dock in the third round of the National Challenge Cup. However, the team won the 1920-1921 league and league cup titles.

Professional career

In 1921, Gallagher, and team mate Albert Mitchell, moved to

J&P Coats J. & P. Coats was an American soccer club founded in 1900 as the team of the Pawtucket, Rhode Island branch of the J. & P. Coats threadmaking company of Paisley, Scotland (following a 1952 merger this firm became part of the Coats Group). The club ...

of the newly formed American Soccer League (ASL), spending two seasons with the team. J&P Coats won the 1922-1923 league title but lost in the semifinals of the 1923 National Challenge Cup to eventual winner Paterson F.C. Jimmy Gallagher

In 1923, Gallagher began the 1923-1924 season with 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 ...

but moved to the New York Giants after only two games. In the summer of 1924, he moved 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 ...

. After one season, he transferred 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 ...

, a new team to the league which played in the

area. 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 ...

, bought Indiana Flooring and changed the team's name to the New York Nationals. After three season under that name, Stoneham changed it again, this time to the New York Giants in 1930. However, while still using the moniker "Nationals", the team won both the ASL league and cup (Lewis Cup) titles. As the Giants, the team won the 1931-1932 ASL championship. By that time, the league was collapsing. The Giants lasted through the spring 1932 season before folding. It appears that at that time, Gallagher moved to the New York Field Club. He then played for Malta United on Long Island through at least December 1933. He then moved west to sign with Cleveland Slavia. He remained with them through at least 1934 as he was listed with Slavia on the 1934 World Cup roster. At some point, he moved to Cleveland Graphite Bronze where he finished his career. When Gallagher left the ASL to move to Cleveland, he had played a total of 346 regular and post season games. That was third on the U.S. list until

Chris Henderson Christopher Henderson (born December 11, 1970) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a midfielder. He earned 79 caps with the U.S. national team and part of the U.S. team at the 1992 Summer Olympics. At the time of his ...

passed him in 2006.

National and Olympic teams

Gallagher earned five

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 Ja ...

with the U.S. national team. He played in all three U.S. games at the 1930 FIFA World Cup as the U.S. made it to the semifinals. He also played a friendly with

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

following the cup. His last game with the national team came in the U.S. victory over

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

on May 24, 1934 which qualified the U.S. for the

finals. He is often confused with another Jimmy Gallagher, who played for the U.S. at the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam.

Personal

In 1937 Gallagher married Marie Coughlin. They went on to have two daughters, Rita Gallager (Weber) and Carol Gallagher (Such). He has 11 grandchildren and 23 great grandchildren. Gallagher was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 1986.

References

External links