Peter Peel

Peter J. Peel (born 1866 in Dublin, Ireland; died May 3, 1960 in Chicago, Illinois) was a three-time president of the United States Football Association. He also managed the U.S. Olympic team at the 1924 Summer Olympics and founded the Peel Cup.

Biography

Peel grew up in Ireland, but in 1893 travelled to the United States to visit the Chicago World’s Fair. He remained in Chicago, becoming an integral part of the city’s athletic scene. In 1909, he established the Peel Cup, an annual cup competition to crown the Illinois state champion. Peel intended this cup to have two purposes, one was to promote a high level of competition and also to raise money for a player benefit fund. The Peel Cup the longest running U.S. soccer cup until superseded in 1970 by the Illinois Governor’s Cup. Three years later, he established the Peel Shield which was awarded to the Cook County, Illinois high school championship. In 1916, the Illinois State Soccer Football Association was formed, and Peter Peel was elected its first president. A year later, he was elected as the president of the United States Football Association. At the time, the term of office was limited to one year. Peel was re-elected in 1918 for a second term. Peel was elected for a third time in 1923, narrowly defeating Thomas Cahill. In one of the more odd incidents in U.S. soccer administrative history, Peel terminated Cahill, who was the association’s first vice president, accusing Cahill of attacking him with a knife. According to Cahill, he was using a knife to peel a plug of tobacco when Peel became aggressive towards him. During this term in office, Peel oversaw the entry of the first official U.S. team to enter the Olympics. In 1924, Peel chose not to stand for re-election and declared bankruptcy soon after. However, he remained active in soccer affairs, primarily in Chicago, but also to a limited extent on the national level until his death.