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 Son
of a university professor, he was originally trained for
the ministry.
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Personal Information |
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Class of 1950 |
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Born:
1870 - Paisley,
Scotland |
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Died: August 10, 1948 - Ravenna, OH |
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He came to the United States at the age of
20 and played soccer in Philadelphia. He later worked with the Alexander Smith Company in
Yonkers as a carpet designer and then became personnel
manager for the Babcock and Wilcox Tube Company in
Bayonne, New Jersey. He was credited with having a deep understanding of
human nature and was said to have a soft tongue, be a
patient listener and a pacifier of ugly emotions and an inherent
believer in justice and fair play. Very early in his sports activities he became a delegate
to the American Association an organization then
controlling soccer in the eastern U.S. and sponsor of the
American Challenge Cup. He was President of the American Football
Association in 1913 is credited with finally persuading
that organization to work with the American Amateur
Association to form the United States Football Association
in that same year. He
was honorary secretary of the USSFA in 1925 and 1926 and
president in 1927 and 1928.
For some time he was also acting President of the
New York State Association. When trouble brewed at the Helsinki Congress of the
FIFA in 1928, at which time the USSFA was threatened with
expulsion for harbouring and playing foreign professional
players who had skipped out of their club agreements, he
was sent as the U.S. delegate to pour oil on the troubled
waters. When
the Congress adjourned the USSFA was still a member in
good standing. He
was also present at the Barcelona Congress.
After being appointed as goodwill ambassador to the
Dominion of Canada annual meeting in 1948, by the USSFA
annual convention in Chicago that same year.
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