Soccer Legends in My Cab and Local History Lesson

I was fortunate enough to have two St. Louis sports legends and two huge names in the world of professional soccer in my cab this morning. Harry Keough and his son Ty caught my cab on the way to the airport. They had a flight to the Soccer Hall of Fame in upstate New York.

St. Louis is a powerhouse in American soccer and there may be no one individual more responsible for building that base than Harry Keogh. H. Keough was on the 1952 and 1956 US Olympic teams and was on the famous 1960 team (along with 4 other St. Louisans) that beat England in the 1960 World Cup 1-0 ( watch the film The Game of Their Lives or read the book to get a better picture). He went onto coach soccer at Florissant Valley Community College and then to lead St. Louis University to 5 NCAA national championships.

What I enjoyed most from my conversation with him was how he told me of growing up in the Carondelet Neighborhood in deep South St. Louis and being taught soccer by Spanish immigrants ( Keough is an Irish-American) and then playing for a pro club team sponsored by Kutis Funeral Homes. He said when he was young there were two sources of power in local soccer; the Carondelet neighborhood and the north side teams around Fairgrounds Park (which led the way for North County, in particular Florissant, to become a soccer power).

His son Ty should be known to those who have watched soccer on American TV for a while. After playing on the US National Team in 1979 and 1980 he went onto a pro career before coaching soccer for Washington University and then broadcasting for ESPN and ABC where he covered 4 World Cups. He agreed with me that Major League Soccer can succeed in St. Louis; but it has to be done in the right way

BTW, unlike a lot of famous people I have had in my cab, particularly baseball people, both of these men were very friendly and nice to talk to.