Happy Birthday Adelino !

On this day in 1908 in Portsmouth, Rhode Island a legend was born into this world, Adelino “Billy” Gonsalves.

Gonsalves, an attacking midfielder kicked off his pro career with the Boston Wonder Workers of the American Soccer League in 1927. The 1927 season would not only be his first as a professional player but it was also first championship, one of three career ASL titles. Billy was transferred to the Fall River Marksmen in 1929 and with them began a run of six consecutive U.S. Open Cup victories. He won in 1930 with Fall River, in 1931 with a team that began the tournament as Fall River Marksmen but finished it as the New York Yankees, and in 1932 with the New Bedford Whalers team that absorbed the Fall River Marksman/New York Yankees franchise. In 1933 Billy moved to St. Louis and joined Stix, Baer & Fuller (SB&F) and lifted the Open Cup in 1933 & 1934, giving Gonsalves five in a row. He made it six in 1935 after SB&F had changed sponsors and became Central  Breweries. Another change turned the team into St. Louis Shamrocks in which Billy reached the finals 1936 and 1937 but lost in both.

Gonsalves wasn’t through with the Open Cup though, he played for Chicago Manhattan Beer when it was the losing finalist in 1939 and then returned east and won the cup twice more with Brooklyn Hispano in 1943 and 1944.

Gonsalves also won the double twice, taking the U.S. Open Cup and the ASL championship in the same season, in 1930 with the Fall Marksmen FC and Brooklyn Hispano in 1943.

Gonsalves also represented the U.S. National Team in both the inaugural World Cup of 1930 as well as taking part in the 1934 World Cup.

Billy’s long playing career and his equally lengthy list of accomplishments earned him a place in the U.S. Soccer Hall Of Fame in 1950 and still remains today as one of America’s most successful and respected players.