Morse Dry Dock, representing a vast Brooklyn shipyard founded by Edward P. Morse, continued its Cup campaign with a Second-Round forfeit against the Chinese Students FC on Dec. 1, 1918. The “Morsemen” had further reinforced their roster with Sam Bustard, apparently recovered from the malady, former Brooklyn Celtic forward Tom McGreevey, ex-Rovers Freddie Cullerton and Arthur Morgan.
The Spanish flu was still going around, though, and a “third wave” crashed on the population in early 1919. On Jan. 11, Open Cup Quarterfinalist New York FC lost captain George Young, who succumbed to double pneumonia, having played “his last game against the Scottish-Americans when New York eliminated that club from the national championships at Newark, Dec. 29,” according to the New York Tribune.
No Time for Sentimentality
There was apparently not much time for grieving, and the replay with Morse-Federal Shipyard (scheduled after the original meeting ended 0-0) went ahead on Jan. 12, 1919. Sinkey Sullivan scored both Morse goals as the teams were tied, 2-2, after 90 minutes. Sullivan added two more goals and Neil O’Donnell another for a 5-2 Morse victory in extra-time.
That set up a Quarterfinal showdown with New York FC, Morse taking a 2-0 win on goals by Fred Beardsworth and Tom McGreevey on March 3, 1919. But Paterson FC proved a road too far for the “Morsemen” in the Semifinal at the Federal League Park in Harrison, N.J., March 30, 1919. Paterson featured 20-year-old Davey Brown and 22-year-old Archie Stark on the front line, and were apparently fortunate to field fullback George Post, wounded veteran of the Argonne Offensive in France. Post, who went on to play four seasons in the American Soccer League (ASL), was doubtful for the game, not because of injury, though. According to the New York Tribune, Post “went AWOL a couple of times to play football recently and probably is confined to the limits of Camp Dix, if, indeed, he is not more restricted than that.”
