Len Oliver

Leonard Paul Oliver (November 3, 1933 – July 24, 2022) was an American soccer player who played as a half back in the American Soccer League (ASL), having earlier played college soccer for the Temple Owls. He was a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame.

Early life The younger half of a set of twins, in 1933. Oliver attended Northeast High School in his hometown. He played soccer for the Kensington Blue Bells and Lighthouse Boys Club, winning the 1948 and 1949 U-19 National Championships with the latter. He also played for the Philadelphia Nationals of the American Soccer League (ASL) in 1946–47, scoring thirteen goals in eighteen games. He attended college at Temple University, playing for the Temple Owls from 1951 to 1954. In 1951, Oliver was selected as a second team All American as Temple claimed to be the national champion. This claim rests on dubious grounds as multiple schools had a legitimate claim to the title in the disorganized state of college soccer at the time. However, the confusion was reduced when in 1953, Oliver was selected as a first team All American and Temple was named the national champion. He was selected for the second year in a row as first team All American in 1954, his senior season, while concurrently serving as captain of the baseball team. Being stationed in Ludlow, Massachusetts, he played half a season with the Ludlow Lusitano, the local ASL team. He was then transferred to San Francisco, where he played for the amateur San Francisco Mercury, an ethnic Russian team. He was subsequently stationed in West Germany and featured on the U.S. Armed Forces all-stars. Following his discharge from the Army in 1959, he briefly returned to the Truckers before signing with Baltimore Pompei. Oliver later recounted how he suffered his worst head injury at the competition, which necessitated eight stitches.

Later life In his later life, Oliver also became an USSF 'A' license coach and referee, and regularly trained new coaches in the Washington, D.C., area. His work in the former area led him to author the book Study Circles: Coming Together for Personal Growth and Social Change (1987), as well as co-found the organization Everyday Democracy. He announced in 2016 that he was going to donate his brain after his death towards concussion research. Together, they had two children: Erika and Britt-Karin.

Oliver died on July 24, 2022, in Washington, D.C., at the age of 88. He had suffered a stroke prior to his death.