Walter Bahr: Footballer part of giant-killing US team that stunned England in 1950 World Cup

The last surviving member of the side that pulled off arguably the biggest football upset in history, Bahr’s sporting genes ensured his sons would go on to win four Super Bowls between them

‘The older I get, the more famous I become,’ said Bahr, pictured in 2013 with his wife Davies. The couple were married for 71 years (Alamy)

The day before the American soccer player Walter Bahr died, Mexico’s victory over World Cup holders Germany was hailed as one of the greatest upsets in the tournament’s history. It did not even come close to the defeat of England in the 1950 finals by a United States side, including Bahr.

England, who felt they could afford to rest Stanley Matthews but featured Alf Ramsey, Billy Wright and Tom Finney, were among the favourites to lift the Jules Rimet Trophy in Brazil. The Americans were part-timers, weekend players from the country’s northeast.

For the group fixture at Belo Horizonte they were coached and captained by Scots, Bill Jeffrey and Ed McIlvenny, and had a centre-half, Charles Columbo, who wore gloves on a hot afternoon. The only goal was deflected home by a Haitian, Joe Gaetjens, from a shot by Bahr.

The US were 500-1 outsiders to become world champions. Despite beating the nation which claimed to have invented the sport – a win belatedly given the Hollywood treatment in the 2005 movie The Game of Their Lives, with Wes Bentley playing Bahr – the dominance of American Football and baseball ensured Bahr and his colleagues received minimal coverage back home. Only when the US made the finals again, 40 years later, was their achievement recognised.

Bahr (centre) looks on as US goalkeeper Frank Borghi saves in front of England forward Tom Finney during the 1950 encounter in Belo Horizonte (Getty)

“The older I get, the more famous I become,” Bahr was fond of saying. In 1990 he told The New York Times that the win against England was “pretty much a well-kept secret in the US”. When they returned, eliminated after losing to Spain and Chile, “the welcome-home committee consisted of the same wives, friends and relatives [who saw them off]”, he said.

Bahr, who was the last surviving member of the American XI, was born in Philadelphia. He excelled in high-school and boys’-club soccer there, going on to play for Temple University. In 1948, as a 21-year-old midfielder, he captained the US at the London Olympics and a year later made his debut for the full national side in a World Cup qualifier against Cuba. In the return match he scored his only goal in 19 internationals as the US reached Brazil.

Combining work as a teacher in junior high school, he played for Philadelphia Nationals, four-time American Soccer League champions between 1950 and 1955. After he joined local rivals Uhrik Truckers, they promptly took the title. As a coach noted for his geniality and wit he served Philadelphia Spartans, his alma mater Temple and Penn State University.

Bahr was married for 71 years to Davies Ann Uhler, who survives him. Their sons Casey, Chris and Matt all played professional soccer, the latter pair each winning two Super Bowls in American Football as placekickers with the Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders and the New York Giants respectively. Their daughter Davies was an outstanding gymnast at Penn State. Yet their father remained the most in-demand member of the family, one interview neatly conflating the scale of the US team’s 1950 giant-killing and his compassionate nature.

“As we went to the bus after the game [in Belo Horizonte] I didn’t know whether to feel happy for us or sad for those poor English guys,” he said. “How were they going to explain a defeat by a 500-to-one underdog?”

Walter Alfred Bahr, footballer, coach and teacher, born 1 April 1927, died 18 June 2018