Archie Stark

1912/16 Kearny Scots (USA)

1916/17 Babcock & Wilcox (USA)

1917 West Hudson (USA)

1918 World War I

1919 Paterson FC (USA)

1919/21 Erie AA (USA)

1921/24 New York Field Club (USA) 80 games, 56 goals

(US Championship: 69 games, 45 goals)

(US Cup: 11 games, 11 goals)

1924/30 Bethlehem Steel (USA) 250 games, 275 goals

(US Championship: 221 games, 240 goals)

(US Cup: 19 games, 20 goals)

(American League Cup: 10 games, 15 goals)

1930 Fall River Marksmen (guest)

1930/32 Newark Americans (USA) 50 games, 23 goals

(US Championship: 42 games, 18 goals)

(US Cup: 8 games, 5 goals)

1933/34 Kearny Irish (USA) 25 games, 22 goals

With the National Team :

2 caps, 5 goals

(Friendly matches: 2 caps, 5 goals)

1st cap: June 27, 1925 against Canada (0-1)

Last cap: November 8, 1925 against Canada (6-1)

Archibald McPherson Stark

Born December 21, 1897 in Glasgow (ECO)

Died May 27, 1985 in Kearny (USA)

American/Scottish, Striker, 1m76

Nickname: Archie

Archie Stark was born on December 21, 1897 in Glasgow, Scotland. He moved with his family to the United States when he was only 13 years old and settled in New Jersey. There, he continued to play football with his brother Tommy, both of whom would become professional players.

Archie was first, like his brother, a defender but his finishing skills quickly made him become an offensive player and then a full-time striker. When he began his football career, he was only 14 years old and he played for the Kearny Scots team, a team made up of American Scots.

With this team, he won his first trophy in 1915, the US Cup, by beating Brooklyn Celtic 1-0, a decisive goal by Stark. He then left to join the Babcock & Wilcox club then West Hudson. But the entry into the war of the United States in 1917 briefly interrupted his career while he was deployed in France.

When he returned to the United States in 1919, he joined the Paterson FC club with whom he reached the final of the National Challenge Cup, which he lost 2-0. Then his team left for a tour of Europe, Sweden and Denmark, during the tour, the team posted a rather good ratio with 6 wins, 2 draws and 6 losses.

It was finally at New York Field Club that the player gained fame throughout the country, in 80 matches for his team, he scored 56 goals and positioned himself as one of the best players in the country. In his last season at the club, he scored 21 goals in 25 games and still showed room for improvement.

It was in the Bethlehem Steel club that he joined in 1924 that the striker would finally show his full potential. Surrounded by a very good team, he had a crazy first season, a historic season to be honest since he would score 67 goals in 44 games in the league alone. He would have scored 59% of his team's goals in the league. To compare his level with that of the others, the second best scorer of the season would have scored 33 goals in 32 games and the third would have scored 32 goals in 34 games.

In total, he finished the 1924/25 season with a whopping 70 goals in 46 games, a ratio of 1.52 goals/game, crazy. The following season, Stark won his first title with Bethlehem, winning the 1926 National Challenge Cup. Bethlehem defeated Ben Millers 7-2, with Stark scoring three of the goals. Bethlehem won the ASL title in 1926-27, and then the Eastern Soccer League titles in 1928-29 and the fall of 1929.

At this point in history, the American Soccer League was one of the most competitive and one of, if not the richest, leagues in the world. It was a dispute between the American Soccer League and FIFA that would change that and gradually restrict American soccer. And the Great Depression would extinguish soccer in the country.

Indeed, the big clubs in the championship went bankrupt one after the other, this was notably the case of Bethlehem Steel which went bankrupt and Stark then decided to join Newark Americans then Kearny Irish before having to retire, the ASL also going bankrupt.

Although one if not the best player in the United States of his time, Archie Stark will have known only 2 selections with his country in his entire career. In 1930, he had the opportunity to participate in the World Cup but refused the invitation in order to make a promotional tour with the Fall River Marksmen club.

- Voted CONCACAF Player of the Year in 1924 and 1925

- Top scorer in the American Soccer League in 1924 (21 goals) (New York Field Club) and 1925 (67 goals) (Bethlehem Steel)

- Inducted into the American Soccer Hall of Fame in 1950

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