William Sheppell (March 11, 1926 - August 24, 2012), also known as Billy Sheppell, 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 ...

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 played in both the American Soccer League and

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 ...

. He earned ten caps with the U.S. national team in 1949 and 1954 and was a member of the 1952 U.S. Olympic Soccer team.

Club career

Sheppell grew up in New Jersey and attended Kearny High School where he was an outstanding high school soccer player, graduating in 1944. In 1999, he was named by ''

The Star-Ledger ''The Star-Ledger'' is the largest circulated newspaper in the U.S. state of New Jersey and is based in Newark. It is a sister paper to ''The Jersey Journal'' of Jersey City, ''The Times'' of Trenton and the '' Staten Island Advance'', all of wh ...

'' as one of the top ten New Jersey high school soccer players of the 1940s-1960s. In 1943, while still in high school, Sheppell signed with

Kearny Celtic The Kearny Irish was an American soccer club based in Kearny, New Jersey that was an inaugural member of the reformed American Soccer League. Commonly known as the Irish-Americans, the club was renamed the Kearny Celtic prior to the 1942/43 seas ...

of the American Soccer League (ASL). He played with Celtic until the end of the 1946–1947 season. That year, Sheppell entered

Seton Hall University Seton Hall University (SHU) is a private Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Seton Hall is the oldest diocesan un ...

, where he played on the school's soccer team. He was a 1948 Second Team and a 1950 First Team All American in 1950.
/sup> As he did in high school, Sheppell played for an outside club team during the scholastic off season. In 1947, he joined the Newark German-Americans of the

. He spent seven seasons with Newark, retiring from playing in 1954.

National and Olympic teams

In 1948, Sheppell joined the national team for a game with Israel national football team, Israel. While the U.S. won by a score of 3–2, the game is not recognized as an official international match. Sheppell earned his first official cap with the U.S. national team on October 19, 1949, in a 4–0 loss to

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 ...

. Sheppell remained with the national team as it traveled to Mexico for the 1949

North American Cup North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...

(NAC). Participation 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 ...

was determined by the NAC, as the top two teams would qualify. The U.S. began the tournament with a 6–0 loss to

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 ...

, but then tied

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

1-1. The team again fell to Mexico 6–2, but with a 5–2 win over Cuba, finished second and qualified for the World Cup. Sheppell was a starter in all four games. However, he was not selected for the U.S. roster at the World Cup. In 1952, Sheppell rejoined the national team for another blowout at the hands of Scotland. This time a 6–0 loss on April 30, 1952. Another two years passed before he played an international match, but he was an integral part of the national team which played four qualification games in 1954 for the

1954 FIFA World Cup The 1954 FIFA World Cup was the fifth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football tournament for senior men's national teams of the nations affiliated to FIFA. It was held in Switzerland from 16 June to 4 July. Switzerla ...

. Two losses to Mexico knocked the U.S. out of contention for a berth in the finals, despite two subsequent victories over

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

. Following these four games, Sheppell never again played for the U.S. In 1952, Sheppell was selected for the Sheppell had also been part of the U.S. team which competed at the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1952), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad ( fi, XV olympiadin kisat; sv, Den XV olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952 ( sv, Helsin ...

. That tournament used a single elimination format and the U.S. lost to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

in the first game.FIFA player profile
/ref>

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheppell, Bill 1926 births 2012 deaths American men's soccer players American Soccer League (1933–1983) players Cosmopolitan Soccer League players Footballers at the 1952 Summer Olympics Kearny Celtic players Kearny High School (New Jersey) alumni Olympic soccer players for the United States Soccer players from Newark, New Jersey People from Kearny, New Jersey Soccer players from Hudson County, New Jersey Seton Hall Pirates men's soccer players United States men's international soccer players Men's association football forwards