The Lighthouse Boys Club is an American soccer established in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...

 in 1897. The team was the dominant U.S. youth soccer club of the early twentieth century. While other youth teams grew in prominence by mid-century, The Lighthouse was still winning national championships in to the late 1960s.

History

In 1893, Esther W. Kelly transformed a northern Philadelphia house into a community center. The center moved to a large, three story building in 1895 which came to be known as The Lighthouse. Over the decades, The Lighthouse has expanded to areas in and around Philadelphia, providing charitable and community services to the Philadelphia population.

In 1897, the Church Club of Philadelphia helped Miss Kelly establish The Lighthouse Boys’ Club and it began creating athletic teams the following year. The Lighthouse has sponsored numerous leagues and teams in multiple sports, but became renowned for its Lighthouse Soccer Club. This club produced some of the greatest U.S. players of the early twentieth century and won five James P. McGuire Cups (U-19 national championship).

The Lighthouse began to decline in the 1980s but the soccer team continues to play today.

Notable players

• Walter Bahr
  Walter Bahr
  Walter Alfred Bahr is a retired American soccer player, considered one of the greatest ever in his country. He was the long-time captain of the U.S. national team and played in the 1950 FIFA World Cup when the U.S...
  
  
• Henry Fleming
  Henry Fleming
  Henry Fleming may refer to:*Henry Fleming , English politician, Member of Parliament for St Germans 1690–1698 and 1700–1708...
  
  
• Bob Gormley
  Bob Gormley
  Robert “Bob” Gormley is a former American soccer forward who spent seventeen years in the American Soccer League. He also earned one cap with the U.S. national team in 1954...
  
  
• Benny McLaughlin
  Benny McLaughlin
  Bernard "Benny" McLaughlin, Jr. is a former U.S. soccer forward who starred in the American Soccer League in the 1940s and 1950s. He earned twelve caps with the U.S. national team, was a member of the 1948 U.S...
  
  
• Len Oliver
• Francis Ryan
  Francis Ryan
  Francis John “Hun” Ryan is a deceased U.S. soccer midfielder. He earned three caps, scoring one goal, with the U.S. national team between 1928 and 1936. He was also a member of the U.S. teams at the 1928 Summer Olympics, 1936 Summer Olympics and the 1934 FIFA World Cup...
  
  
• Dick Spalding
  Dick Spalding
  Charles Harry “Dick" Spalding was an American soccer and baseball player. He played the first two games in the history of the U.S. national soccer team, as well as professional soccer for nearly fifteen years, primarily with teams in Pennsylvania...
  
  
• Walt Manning
• Jack Dunn

External links

• Club homepage
• History of The Lighthouse
• History of soccer in Philadelphia
• The Lighthouse Records, containing materials that pertain to nearly every aspect of the organization from its founding in the 1890s through 2000, are available for research use at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania
  Historical Society of Pennsylvania
  The Historical Society of Pennsylvania is a historical society founded in 1824 and based in Philadelphia. The Society's building, designed by Addison Hutton and listed on Philadelphia's Register of Historical Places, houses some 600,000 printed items and over 19 million manuscript and graphic items...
  
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• McGuire Cup winners