Elmer Schroeder

The first American-born president of the United States Football Association.

Schroeder, a Philadelphian, was one of the leading managers and administrators in American soccer in the 1930s, both at the club and national-team levels. He was manager of the United States teams at the 1928 Olympic Games in Holland, the 1934 World Cup in Italy, the 1936 Olympic Games in Germany, and a national-team tour of Mexico in 1937.

Schroeder, who was a lawyer and had been an official of numerous Philadelphia-area leagues and associations, served as president of the U.S. Football Association in 1933 and 1934, after having been a vice president of that organization since 1927, and as president of the American Soccer League from 1939 to 1942.

Schroeder was the first manager of the great Philadelphia German-Americans team, holding that position from 1932 to 1937. Earlier, he had been director of all teams at the famous Lighthouse Boys Club from 1917 to 1931. The German-Americans teams that he managed won the National Amateur Cup in 1933 and 1934, the American Soccer League championship in 1935 and the U.S. Open Cup in 1936.

Inducted in 1951.