In 1957 it was the team from Missouri that would emerge victorious, winning both legs by scores of 2-0 and 3-1. Hakoah’s only goal in the Final came from Lloyd Monsen, a future inductee into the National Soccer Hall of Fame and a player who represented the U.S. twice in the Olympic Soccer Tournament. (He also represented the U.S. in baseball, which is an entirely different story.)
Monsen wasn’t the only future Hall of Famer involved with that last Hakoah team. Their coach was Kurt Lamm, who led them to multiple American Soccer League titles during his time with the club — and who would go on to lead both the American Soccer League and the U.S. Soccer Federation later in his career.
***
The name of New York Hakoah is again dormant, though there’s been at least one effort in the current century to bring back the name. It was briefly revived in 2012, when a team called Hakoah began play in the New York metropolitan area — this time in New Jersey. Bergen County Hakoah did manage one high-profile move, landing Israeli airline El Al as their jersey sponsor. The club later announced that they would adopt the name of New York Hakoah — but as of this writing, their website is no longer operational and their X/Twitter account was last updated in 2016.
Whether or not the team is a going concern, New York Hakoah remains a compelling piece of American soccer’s history.
Tobias Carroll is a Brooklyn-based writer and the author of four books, most recently the novel Ex-Members. He's on X/Twitter at @tobiascarroll, and is also on Instagram at @tobiascarroll.
