| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Archibald McPherson Stark | ||
| Date of birth | (1897-12-21)December 21, 1897 | ||
| Place of birth | Glasgow, Scotland | ||
| Date of death | May 27, 1985(1985-05-27) (aged 87) | ||
| Place of death | Kearny, New Jersey, U.S. | ||
| Position(s) | Forward | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1911–1912 | West Hudson Junior | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1912–1916 | Kearny Scots | ||
| 1916–1917 | Babcock & Wilcox | ||
| 1917 | West Hudson | ||
| 1919 | Paterson F.C. | ||
| 1919–1921 | Erie A.A. | ||
| 1921–1924 | New York Field Club | 69 | (45) |
| 1924–1930 | Bethlehem Steel | 221 | (240) |
| 1930 | →Fall River F.C.(guest) | ||
| 1930–1932 | Newark Americans | 42 | (18) |
| 1932–1933 | Brooklyn Wanderers | ||
| 1933–1934 | Kearny Irish | 25 | (22) |
| International career | |||
| 1925 | United States | 2 | (5[1]) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Archibald McPherson Stark (December 21, 1897 – May 27, 1985) was asoccer player who became the dominant player in U.S. leagues during the 1920s and early 1930s. He spent nine seasons in theNational Association Football League and another twelve in theAmerican Soccer League. He also earned twocaps, scoring five goals, as a member of theU.S. national team. He holds the U.S. single-season scoring record with 67 goals (including eighthat-tricks) scored during the 1924–25 season which is the current World Record. He was inducted into theNational Soccer Hall of Fame in 1950.
Although Stark and his brotherTommy Stark were born in Scotland, they moved to the United States when Archie was thirteen years old. His family settled inHudson County, New Jersey, where Stark immediately began his organized soccer career with the West Hudson Juniors. For a player who made his name as aforward, Stark began as adefender with the Juniors. Stark turned professional a year later when he signed with theScottish-Americans of theNational Association Football League for the 1912–1913 season. At the time, he was only fourteen. He remained with the Scottish-Americans for four seasons.
In 1915, the Scottish-Americans won the1915 American Cup, defeatingBrooklyn Celtic 1–0 on a Stark goal. The next season, the team lost the AFA championship game whenBethlehem Steel F.C. crushed them 3–0. At the end of the 1915–1916 season, Stark moved to theBayonne, New Jersey–basedBabcock & Wilcox club.
In 1917, the U.S. enteredWorld War I, and Stark joined theU.S. Army, which briefly interrupting his career. During the war, Stark served in France.[2]
When he returned to the U.S. in 1919, he joinedPaterson F.C., which went to the1919 National Challenge Cup final, losing toBethlehem Steel 2–0. Following the cup, Stark joined Bethlehem for the team's August 10, 1919, to September 24, 1919, tour of Sweden and Denmark.[3] On that tour, Bethlehem went 6–2–6 (W-L-T). Stark then moved toKearny, New Jersey, clubErie A.A. of the NAFBL. In a controversial decision, league officials awarded Erie A.A. the title even though Bethlehem Steel had one more point. Bethlehem Steel appealed to the U.S. Soccer Football Association, which reversed the decision. Stark remained with Erie A.A., now known as Harrison Erie S.C., through the end of the 1920–1921 season, but when several teams defected to form a new league, to be known as theAmerican Soccer League (ASL), the NAFBL folded. Stark then jumped to theNew York Field Club of the ASL in 1921. By this time he had gained a reputation as a prolific scorer and was sought after by several teams. In three seasons with New York F.C., Stark scored forty-five goals in sixty-nine games. In his last season with the team, he bagged nearly a goal a game when he scored twenty-one in twenty-five games.
In the off-season after the 1923–24 season, the New York F.C. franchise was sold to theIndiana Flooring Company and Stark was among the players who went with the franchise. Indiana Flooring waived Stark andBethlehem Steel F.C. picked him up just before the new season.[4] Stark's move to Bethlehem would gain him his greatest recognition, as Bethlehem moved him to center forward from the right wing position he had played with New York. Bethlehem had some of the deepest pockets in the ASL and used that money to sign several top Scottish internationals.
Surrounded by talent, Stark responded by scoring 67 goals in 44 games in his first season with the team, including eighthat-tricks,[5] which is the correctWorld Record for an individual. He also scored three more goals in two league cup games. The next season, Stark earned his first title with Bethlehem as the team took the1926 National Challenge Cup. Bethlehem rolled overBen Millers by a score of 7–2, Stark scoring three of the goals. Bethlehem went on to take the 1926–1927 ASL title, then the 1928–1929 and fall 1929Eastern Soccer League titles.
In what became known as the Soccer War,FIFA declared the ASL an “outlaw league” in 1927.[6] Reasons for this centered on a dispute between the ASL and theU.S. Football Association (USFA), which was backed by FIFA, about control of the sport in the United States. FIFA and USFA demanded that all ASL teams enter the National Challenge Cup (now theUS Open Cup). The ASL refused to force its teams to do so, and FIFA labeled the ASL an “outlaw league”.
The ASL, U.S. federal law on its side, announced it would no longer abide by FIFA rules and would boycott FIFA events, including the National Challenge Cup. The ASL, as one of the most competitive and highest paying leagues in the world at the time, expected that many prominent international players would continue to flock to the ASL in defiance of FIFA. In order to reduce the prominence of the ASL, USFA organized a rival league, the Eastern Soccer League, in October 1928. Bethlehem Steel, in defiance of the ASL, had elected to enter the National Challenge Cup and was suspended by the league seven games into the 1928–1929 season, leading Bethlehem to join the ESL. Stark and Bethlehem Steel remained in the ESL for two seasons before returning to the ASL for the team's final season. Neither Bethlehem Steel FC nor the ASL could withstand the financial strains imposed by this situation and the Soccer War led to the demise of the ASL and Bethlehem Steel.[7] When Bethlehem Steel folded in 1930, Stark joined theFall River F.C. of a tour of Europe. However, the team faced financial difficulties and left the players stranded inBudapest, after which they returned to the U.S. as third class passengers.
When Bethlehem Steel folded in 1930, Stark moved to theNewark Americans for the 1930–1931 ASL season. He remained with the Americans through the demise of the ASL in 1933. However, the statistics for the last two ASL seasons have been lost and we no longer know how many goals Stark scored during them.
After the first ASL finally collapsed in 1933, Stark ended up withKearny Irish, which joined the newAmerican Soccer League (ASL II) for the league's inaugural 1933–1934 season. The Irish took the league title, and Stark shared the scoring title withRazzo Carroll of theKearny Scots.
Stark earned only twocaps with theU.S. national team, both in games againstCanada in 1925.[8] His first cap came in a 1–0 loss to Canada inQuebec in June. In November, Canada came to the U.S. for a game; Stark scored five goals as the U.S. easily dispatched its northern neighbors 6–1.[9]
While Stark received an invitation to play on thenational team at the1930 FIFA World Cup, he declined the invitation for business reasons.[10]
In 1950, Stark was inducted into theNational Soccer Hall of Fame.[11]
| Club | Season | League | League | National Cup | League Cup | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |||
| Kearny Scots | 1912–13 | NAFBL | ||||||||
| 1913–14 | ||||||||||
| 1914–15 | 2+ | 3+ | 3+ | 3+ | 5+ | 6+ | ||||
| 1915–16 | ||||||||||
| Babcock & Wilcox | 1916–17 | |||||||||
| West Hudson | 1917–18 | |||||||||
| Paterson F.C. | 1918–19 | 5+ | 6+ | 2+ | 2+ | 7+ | 8+ | |||
| Erie A.A. | 1919–20 | 2+ | 4+ | 2+ | 4+ | |||||
| 1920–21 | 1+ | 3+ | 2+ | 2+ | 1+ | 1+ | 4+ | 6+ | ||
| New York Field Club | 1921–22 | ASL | 21 | 13 | 2 | 2 | 23 | 15 | ||
| 1922–23 | 23 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 28 | 17 | ||||
| 1923–24 | 25 | 21 | 4 | 3 | 29 | 24 | ||||
| Bethlehem Steel | 1924–25 | 44 | 67 | 2 | 3 | 46 | 70 | |||
| 1925–26 | 37 | 43 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 45 | 54 | ||
| 1926–27 | 29 | 23 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 33 | 25 | ||
| 1927–28[Note 1] | 46 | 27 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 52 | 34 | ||
| 1928–29 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 2 | ||||||
| 1928–29 | EPSL | 32 | 41 | 4 | 6 | 36 | 47 | |||
| Fall 1929 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 9 | ||||||
| 1929–30 | ASL | 19 | 28 | 5 | 6 | 24 | 34 | |||
| Newark Americans | 1930 | 19 | 12 | 4 | 3 | 23 | 15 | |||
| Spring 1931 | 12 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 3 | ||||
| Fall 1931 | 11 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 14 | 5 | ||||
| Kearny Irish | 1933–1934 | ASL II | 25 | 22 | 25 | 22 | ||||
| Career total | 367+ | 319+ | 45+ | 43+ | 11+ | 16+ | 423+ | 378+ | ||