The Globe -- Bethlehem
November 29, 1922
SOCCER PLAYER SERIOUSLY ILL
Currie, One of Steel Team's New Acquisitions, Sick With Pneumonia.
HAS FINE WAR RECORD

Sorrow prevails among the players of the Bethlehem F. C., soccer team for the patient at St. Luke's Hospital, hovering between life and death with a sever attack of pneumonia is James Currie, aged 26, a veteran of the World War, and a recent acquisition to the soccer forces.

He was stricken with pneumonia last week and on Friday his condition had become serious and he was removed to the hospital for treatment.

A severe handicap in fighting the malady is the fact that the athlete was severely gassed in the war and his lungs left in a weakened condition.

One of the members of the team has been at his bedside constantly. This morning it was reported that his condition is very serious and that the patient has been delirious for the past twenty-four hours.

A little more than two months ago Currie arrived in America. The journey across was to visit his brother who resided at Trenton, N. J., for several years and is also a soccer player of note, being included in the defense of the Babcock and Wilcox team.

It was while on the visit that the Bethlehem scouts heard of his arrival in this country and being thoroughly familiar with his reputation as a player and his excellent character, interested him in Bethlehem soccer and he was one of the many new members to sign with the Bethlehem team for this season.

Currie's war record has been equally as brilliant if not more so than his great soccer career. An outstanding right in the big European sport, he played with the Nithsdale Wanderers, of Scotland, and also in Notts County, first division of the English league.

In 1914 Currie enlisted as a private in the infantry regiment and in recognition of his gallantry on the field of battle was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant. The British Military Medal together with the French Croix De Guerre speak for themselves. He continued in the service until the armistice was signed on November 11, 1918. In addition to these coveted medals which he modestly displays, the esteem in which he was held by his fellow soldiers is attested by the beautiful gold watch he carries and which was presented to him by the men in his company.

Soccer enthusiasts are all het up in anticipation of the first American League struggle on the Bethlehem Field on Saturday afternoon at 2:30 o'clock when the strong Harrison F. C. with its bevy of former Bethlehem and Robins Dry Dock celebrities invade the lair of the Bethlehem team.

While Bethlehem is reputed to be unusually strong this season, the same status is given by critics to the Harrison aggregation. The latter in augmenting their eleven secured the services of "Jimmy" Campbell, former caption of the Bethlehem eleven, and in spite of his long years in the sport still considered the peer of center forwards. Then there's Sam Fletcher, another old Bethlehem standby, and McGuire, the flashy forward whose contribution to the achievements of the Robins Dry Dock went a far way in adding National honors.


1922-1923
Bethlehem Steel Soccer Club