Sunday 19 October 2008

Charlie McCully 1976 (Guest)

Charles “Charlie” Findlay McCully was born April 30th, 1947 in Motherwell, Scotland, and was a U.S.-Scottish soccer forward.
Charlie played two season in the American Soccer League. In 1968, he signed with the Boston Beacons of the NASL. The Beacons folded at the end of the season and Charlie moved to the German American Soccer League for the next two seasons. In 1971, the expansion New York Cosmos signed him. He played twenty-four games, scoring six goals in 1971.
The next season, he played in only seven games and scored no goals before leaving the NASL. In 1975, McCully returned to the NASL with the Hartford Bicentennials. In 1976, Charlie guested for the Rowdies during a Tour of Haiti, then Hartford traded him to the Washington Diplomats. He retired at the end of the season. Charlie was regarded as someone with a nose for the goal, and a player with eyes in the back of his head (he was extremely aware of every man's position on the pitch).
Charlie earned eleven caps with the U.S. national team between 1973 and 1975. His first game with the national team came in a 1-0 win over Poland on August 12th, 1973. His last game was a 2-0 loss to Mexico on August 25th, 1975 in the Mexico Cup.
In 1999, Charlie McCully was inducted into the Connecticut Soccer Hall of Fame.

Sadly, Charlie passed away on October 23rd, 2007 aged 60 years of age in Meriden, Connecticut.
Charlie was a very giving man, loving husband, father that any kid would loved to have had. Charlie was an entertainer; a brilliant story teller; an infamous chef; an artist with brick/stone and mortar; a teacher; man of integrity; problem solver - to name a few...He was proud of his Scottish heritage which shined in his dimeanor as a man. He was known to many by his nickname "the Shark".

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