Al Harker

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Albert “Al” Harker (April 11, 1910 – April 3, 2006) was a U.S. soccer player who was a member of the U.S. team at the 1934 FIFA World Cup. During his Hall of Fame career, he won three American Soccer League championships, two league cups, a U.S. Amateur Cup title and the 1935 U.S. Open Cup.

[edit] Youth and college

Harker attended Girard College where he played on the men’s soccer team from 1926 to 1929.

[edit] Professional

Following his graduation from college, he signed with Corinthians of the National Soccer League of Philadelphia. In 1930, he moved to Upper Darby and in 1931 to the Kensington Blue Bells. In 1932, he moved to the Philadelphia German-Americans. When the second American Soccer League formed in 1933, the German-Americans moved to the new league. That year, the team won the National Amateur Cup and the U.S. Open Cup in 1935. The team became known as the Philadelphia Americans in 1941. Under its new name, Harker and his team mates won the ASL championship in 1942, 1944 and 1947, as well as the league cup in 1941 and 1943.

[edit] National team

Harker was called into the for the 1934 FIFA World Cup, but did not see time in the lone U.S. game of the cup, a 7-1 loss to eventual champion Italy.^[1] He was also called into the U.S. Olympic soccer team for the 1936 Summer Olympics, but declined because he was unable to take two months off work.

He was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 1979 and the Girard College Athletic Hall of Fame in 2006.^[2]

[edit] External links

• National Soccer Hall of Fame
• New York Times obituary

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