John Ardizzone

A player and administrator in North California for more than a half-century after emigrating from Italy as a teenager in 1922.

As a player, Ardizzone won San Francisco league championships with the San Francisco Athletic Club in 1926 and 1928, with the Verdi Club in 1934, with Teutonia in 1940 and with Union Espanola in 1941. During the 1934 season, he scored 49 goals in 20 games for Verdi.

After retiring as a player in 1947, he served as secretary of the San Francisco Soccer Football League from 1947 to 1954 and again from 1966 until his death in 1982. In between those, he filled various positions with the California Soccer Football Association, serving as its president from 1954 to 1956, as a member of its board from 1957 to 1960, and as vice president from 1960 to 1966. During his years with the state association, he was instrumental in bringing about the entry of San Francisco teams into the U.S. Open Cup for the first time.

Inducted in 1971.