Ed McIlvenny

He was enshrined in the National Soccer Hall of Fame, along with the other members of the 1950 World Cup team, in 1976. He is also featured in the Scottish Football Museum.

In the United States, McIlvenny initially abandoned his football career in order to take an industrial job. According to his son, McIlvenny initially worked as a plumber’s mate, also delivering eggs and milk. He later excelled with the Philadelphia Nationals of the American Soccer League, where he teamed up with US national team captain Walter Bahr. The Nationals won the league, with McIlvenny being declared the competition’s outstanding player in June 1949. He was subsequently selected to join the U.S. national team during their 1950 World Cup appearance. He was given the honour of being captain for the game against England “because he was British”, and in that game, it was his throw-in that led to the U.S. goal. Although he was not a U.S. citizen, he had declared his intention of becoming one and thus was eligible to play, according to the rules of the United States Soccer Football Association at the time.

McIlvenny learned to play football as a youth, and while playing for Scottish club Morton, he was selected for a Scottish Junior League team on a tour of the north of Scotland. In 1947, he signed with the Welsh club Wrexham, then in the Third Division North of the English Football League, but he only played seven games for them before moving to the US in 1949 to stay with his sister.

Edward Joseph McIlvenny (21 October 1924 – 18 May 1989) was a Scottish footballer, who most notably captained the United States national team in their 1–0 upset of England in the 1950 FIFA World Cup.