Frank Borghi, Soccer Legend and Gentle Giant

Note: This is the sixth part of my American Soccer Road Trip, which will involve me traveling across the country, finding stories that exemplify the diversity that exists in American soccer. Check back soon for further updates.

Frank Borghi is a gentle giant. When he opened the door to let me in his house in St. Louis, I was struck by his height – well over six feet tall – and the size of his hands, which enveloped mine. But any thoughts that he might be an intimidating man were quickly put to rest as Borghi sat down with me to discuss his career in soccer.

He is a jovial and friendly man, the type of kind grandfather every kid hopes for. But unlike most grandfathers, the stories Borghi can tell of his youth include being the goalkeeper who kept England at bay in United States’ famous 1-0 victory at the 1950 World Cup.Frank Borghi was born in the soccer-mad city of St. Louis. He grew up in the Italian neighborhood called The Hill, where soccer was particularly popular. But initially the young Borghi was drawn more to baseball. He was good enough to receive a professional contract, and he played minor league baseball for two years (after the second year, a team official came to his house to offer Borghi a contract extension, but his mother chased him away, saying she wanted her boy to stay home).

Borghi continued to play baseball for fun, but decided he needed another pastime to keep himself busy during the winter off-season. At the time, soccer was a winter sport in the US and so Borghi decided to give it a try. There was only one problem: he couldn’t kick a ball. He told me: “I started out playing on the field, but I couldn’t do that, I couldn’t handle the ball. So I knew I could catch a ball so I signed up to play in goal. I knew I could do that.”

Putting the hand-eye coordination he had learned playing baseball to use proved a stroke of genius and before long Borghi had become one of the top goalkeepers in the country. (He never did learn to kick, however, and said later, “If I kicked it, the ball would go up and come back down straight.” As a result, Borghi always threw the ball out after making a save and had teammates take goal kicks for him.)

Frank Borghi (photo: The Soccer Garage)

Borghi played most of his career for the Simpkins-Ford team and proved so successful that he was called up to the national team for 1950 World Cup qualifiers. He played well enough to retain his place with the team and flew down to Brazil for the tournament.The US had been drawn into a group along with Spain, Chile, and England. Borghi feared the English most of all. They were, he told me, the “fathers of soccer” and favorites to win the tournament. The US team were anything but, and going into the match, Borghi said he was hoping to avoid a slaughter and only wanted to “keep [the score] down to four or five goals.”

When Joe Gaetjens scored in the 37th minute, Borghi was as surprised as anyone. Immediately, he began to think of the onslaught that the England team would bring upon his goal during the time that remained in the match. Borghi said to himself, “Oh my god, the roof is going to cave in.”

The onslaught came as promised and the English team hit the woodwork four times in the match. Many of their other opportunities were stopped by an inspired Frank Borghi. His teammate Harry Keough described one save to William Gildea of the Washington Post in 1994:

When Borghi dove for the ball, he dove straight to his right. With his right hand, he reached back maybe 10 or 12 inches and his hand bent toward the goal. It looked from where the English were that it had crossed the line. But Borghi was a yard or so off the goal line. It was a good thing.

When I asked Borghi himself about the many saves he made that day, he shrugged and said simply, “I had the opportunity.”

Photo: Baudo Family / USA Today / National Soccer Hall of Fame

Self-deprecating about his kicking ability and quick to play down the saves he made in what was the game of his life, Borghi is nothing if not humble. The closest he came to promoting himself was when he told me “I had confidence in my hands” (and it’s a good thing, too: Borghi never wore gloves).

The US’ 1-0 victory over England remains one of the team’s most famous wins of all time (a movie called The Game of Their Lives was made about it). Despite the disappointment of losing to an unheralded American team, Borghi said that their English opponents were cordial when they met in the airport after the match.

A few years later, England great Stanley Matthews (who was on the bench that day, as the English didn’t think they’d need him against the lowly Americans) was in St. Louis and Borghi met with him. After their meeting, Borghi told me that the England legend signed a card for him, putting his full title “Sir Stanley Matthews.” Borghi chuckled, recalling what happened next: “So I signed a card for him ‘Sir Frank Borghi.’”

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This entry was posted on Monday, September 17th, 2007 at 7:00 am and is filed under American Soccer Road Trip, History, North America, UK. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.