While Philadelphia soccer fans watched a soccer double header at the Phillies Ball Park on Christmas Day in 1916, Bethlehem Steel FC, holders of the National Challenge Cup and the American Cup, had traveled to St. Louis for two games to decide the unofficial title of champion of the United States.
A look at the evolution of the uniform worn by Bethlehem Steel FC. Photos suggest the team wore as many as nine different jersey designs between 1912 and 1930.
Bethlehem Steel FC were the most successful American soccer team of the first half of the Twentieth Century, rising quickly from an informal local side to professional national powerhouse in less than twenty years.