Forward who was the youngest member of the United States team at the 1930 World Cup. Brown played all three games for the United States at outside right, and scored the Americans’ only goal in their semifinal loss to Argentina.
Of the six players on that 1930 team who had been born in Britain, Brown was the last to come to the United States, arriving in 1927 when he was 18. He joined the Newark Skeeters of the American Soccer League that year, and signed his first pro contract in 1929, with the New York Giants. After the 1930 World Cup, he played briefly in the by-then-failing ASL before moving to England, where he played five seasons for Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and Brentford. He returned permanently to the United States after World War II.
The goal against Argentina may not have been Brown’s number-one contribution to the American effort at that World Cup. Team manager Wilfred Cummings described the way that Brown set up a goal in the opening game against Belgium, a run down the right side and a cross to unmarked Bert Patenaude in the goalmouth, as “one of the most brilliant plays of the tournament.”
The three games in the World Cup in Uruguay and one in Brazil during the trip home were the only full internationals Brown ever played. His son George played a World Cup qualifier for the United States in 1957.
Inducted in 1986.
