A Victim of Circumstance

Tragedy is no stranger to God's chosen people and the Shoah (Holocaust) touched every aspect of life for European Jewry. The world of sports was no different. You may find yourself asking why a blog about American soccer history has a story on the Shoah, well the reason is that not every victim was European. One such figure was Eddy Hamel. Eddy Hamel was a Brooklyn born jew who did the unthinkable in those days and managed to secure a contract with Dutch powerhouse Ajax in the 1920s. Not only did he get a contract but Hamel managed to make his mark on the wings with his incredible attacking play. At this time war was still a long way off and so were the concentration camps. Normally an American citizen such as Hamel would have been excused from the hardships of the Third Reich's jewish policy; however, for one reason or another Hamel's papers were lost and could not be found or reproduced. Because of this Hamel was sent to his death in Auschwitz and his story becomes an interesting footnote in the study of evil. To this day Ajax supporters still refer to themselves as the "Superjews" even though a study would find little to no jewish blood sitting in the stands. Eddy Hamel is a forgotten hero that deserves a mention not only for what he did on the pitch but also to remember the evil that was perpetrated against the jewish people so that it may be prevented in the future.

A Win of Olympic Proportions

In the American sporting mind there is no bigger success than medaling at the Olympics. In 1904 a ragtag group of American youngsters did just that during the Games of the III Olympiad in St. Louis, Missouri. Not only did an American team come away with the Silver they also managed to somehow haul in a Bronze as well. Usually such a feat isn't possible in the Olympic soccer tournament but the 1904 Olympics are remembered for being a bizarre, disorganized mess. In fact the original winner of the marathon was stripped of his title when it was found out that he took a car most of the way. Another strange fact is that the American contingent brought 523 athletes to the games while the next most represented country, Canada, only brought 52. The lopsided totals are explained by the fact that the Russo-Japanese War had escalated tensions across Europe so therefore only 52 athletes from outside North America were able to attend. With that said one would believe that the US should be a shoe in for Gold in most every competition. Well apparently the US would lose out to that powerhouse of a soccer nation Canada. Of course this was well before the professionalization of soccer, so who were the two American teams that took home medals? Well the Silver winning team was actually the men's soccer team from Christian Brothers College in St. Louis which is a college prep high school. So where does that put this win in the perspective of American soccer history? The whole incident is actually not very important at all seeing as how no Americans would go on to play professionally. In fact the 1904 Olympics pale in comparison to how vital the US Open Cup (now the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup) was and still is to the American soccer community. The main reason behind this post is that soccer has many personalities as a sport. Oftentimes a team's supporters can take these bizarre and slightly embarrassing events and make them their own (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_hanger). Perhaps an industrious American fan could take it upon themselves to create some sort of chant or banner having to do with the ridiculousness of the 1904 Olympics.