Wilfred Cummings

A leading Chicago soccer official who was the manager of the United States team that played in the first World Cup, in 1930 in Uruguay. His 4,000-word report to the U.S. Football Association on that trip, including detailed descriptions of the games, is one of the best documents on the early history of American soccer.

Cummings, a noted Chicago player in his youth, including several years with the famous Pullman FC team, served as secretary-treasurer of the Illinois State Soccer Association for more than 30 years and was treasurer of the U.S. Football Association from 1923 to 1931. In addition to managing the 1930 World Cup team, he was manager of several noteworthy Chicago teams, including the Chicago all-star team that upset the touring Hakoah team from Austria in 1926 and the Chicago Bricklayers team that reached the final of the U.S. Open Cup in 1931.

Inducted in 1953.