Rudy Kuntner (June 10, 1908 in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

– December 16, 1982 in Rego Park, New York) was a U.S.-Austrian soccer forward who was a member of the U.S. team at the 1928 Summer Olympics. He is also known as a long time stage manager for the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is oper ...

and is a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame

Youth

Kuntner immigrated to the U.S. with his family when he was seven. His family settled in the New York City area where he began playing soccer. However, he was an all around athlete and played

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 t ...

, football,

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and

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

at Gorton High School in

Yonkers, New York Yonkers () is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. Developed along the Hudson River, it is the third most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City and Buffalo. The population of Yonkers was 211,569 as en ...

Professional soccer

Kuntner signed with the New York Giants of the American Soccer League during the 1927–1928 season. He played five games, all in the second half of the season, scoring three goals. In 1928, he moved to the

New York Hungaria New York Hungaria was an American soccer team which won the National Challenge Cup in 1962. Honors *National Challenge Cup (1): 1962 *Participations in CONCACAF Champions' Cup: 1963 *Cosmopolitan Soccer League Champions (6): 1956–1957, 1958� ...

in the short lived

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. After the collapse of the ESL in 1929, Kuntner moved to First Vienna (also known as Wiener Sports Club and New York Vienna F.C.) of the

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 1930, he was back in the ASL with

Bridgeport Hungaria Bridgeport Hungaria was an American soccer club based in Bridgeport, Pennsylvania that was a member of the American Soccer League. The team was formed to replace the Newark Skeeters who had folded before the merger of the ASL and the Eastern Socce ...

, but the team moved to Newark after ten games, then folded. He then moved to the New York Giants of the American Soccer League (ASL). The Giants folded in 1932 and Kuntner moved to

New York Americans The New York Americans, colloquially known as the Amerks, were a professional ice hockey team based in New York City from 1925 to 1942. They were the third expansion team in the history of the National Hockey League (NHL) and the second to play ...

of the second ASL. In 1937, the Americans fell in the National Challenge Cup final to St. Louis Shamrocks. In 1939, he was playing with Brooklyn St. Mary's Celtic when it won the National Cup final over Chicago Manhattan Beer. Kuntner was still going strong in the 1942–1943 season when he scored nine goals in seventeen games with

Brookhattan Brookhattan was an American soccer club based in New York City that was a member of the professional American Soccer League (ASL). Formed in 1933, they joined the American Soccer League and won the first half of the league's 1933 season. Foll ...

. In 1945, he was still active with Brookhattan when it won the triple, the league title,

Lewis Cup The Lewis Cup was an American soccer trophy established in 1914 as the championship trophy for the amateur Blue Mountain League, which was composed of clubs from the Lehigh Valley The Lehigh Valley (), known colloquially as The Valley, is a geogr ...

(league cup) and National Challenge Cup.

National and Olympic teams

Kuntner earned two

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with the U.S. national team in 1928. At the time, the Olympic soccer games counted as full internationals and his first cap with the national team came in the 1928 Summer Olympics. That game, an 11–2 loss to Argentina saw Kuntner score in his debut with the national team. Following the tournament, the team traveled to Poland where it tied the Polish national team 3–3. Kuntner again scored, joining a handful of U.S. players who scored in their first two international games.The Official Site of U.S. Soccer – Men's National Team
/ref> Despite his scoring success, Kuntner was never again called into the national team.

Metropolitan Opera

In addition to his success on the soccer field, Kuntner found great success as a stage hand at the

. He began as an electrician, but over the years moved into areas of greater responsibility including lighting and stage management. According to the Soccer Hall of Fame profile, he "received wide acclaim for his role in the staging of Tristan and Isolde in 1971." In 1963, Kuntner was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame.

References

External links

Soccer Hall of Fame bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kuntner, Rudy 1908 births 1982 deaths United States men's international soccer players Olympic soccer players of the United States Footballers at the 1928 Summer Olympics Austro-Hungarian emigrants to the United States American Soccer League (1921–1933) players Bridgeport Hungaria players New York Giants (soccer) players New York Giants (soccer, 1930–1932) players American Soccer League (1933–1983) players New York Americans (soccer) (1933–1956) players Brooklyn St. Mary's Celtic players New York Brookhattan players German-American Soccer League players National Soccer Hall of Fame members Soccer players from New York (state) American soccer players Association football forwards