A leader in New York soccer at the club, league and state levels from the 1940s to the 1980s.
Saunders, who was born in England and was among the soldiers evacuated at Dunkirk in 1940, came to America in 1949. He was president of the Southern New York state association from 1976 to 1978. Saunders had earlier been president of Hota SC of New York’s German-American Soccer League and president of that league. During his time as president of the German-American League, he helped to organize the GASL all-star team that was the United States entry in the International Soccer League played each summer in New York in the early 1960s.
He involved with efforts that gained U.S. government support for the USSF’s successful bid to be named host of the 1994 World Cup.
Inducted in 1981.
