NEW YORK: Walter Bahr, the last survivor of the United States team who scored a shock 1-0 win over England at the 1950 World Cup in Brazil, has died aged 91.
Bahr, who was the Penn State men’s coach for 14 years, played left half and provided the assist which was headed past keeper Bert Williams by Joe Gaetjens.
Years later he recalled: “Nobody picked me up right away, so I let a shot go. I never saw the shot after I hit it because it was into traffic. Whether Joe’s getting a piece of it was by accident or by design I don’t know but I know he went after it with his head. It’s the mystery goal.”
Bahr, from Philadelpha, was born on April 1, 1927. He scored one goal in 19 appearances for the United States whom he also captained a number of times between 1948 and 1957 and whom he represented at the 1948 Olympic Games.
He played his club football for Philadelphia Nationals, winning Amrican Soccer League titles in 1950, 1951, 1953, and 1955. He then switched to the Uhrik Truckers, another team in the Philadelphia area, and won the ASL title in 1956.
Bahr remained a high school teacher and school and college soccer coach.
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