As North America prepares to welcome a record 48 teams to the 2026 FIFA World Cup, it’s fun to look back 100 years to local soccer in 1926. Black Diamond’s teams were typically a tough group of players made up of the sons of coal-mining immigrants, primarily British and Italian. Sadly, the Italian national soccer team, a four-time World Cup champion, will not be competing in this year’s competition, having failed to qualify for a third straight time.
While the specific individuals were not identified on the back of the photo, there is sufficient documentation to know most of the players. The 1926-27 Black Diamond roster was split between two teams – the First Division Miners and Second Division Briquets. The B on their diamond-shaped patches indicates this team was the Briquets. Both squads played in the Northwest Soccer League, under the auspices of the Washington State Football Association, led by President Jack Simpson.
During this period, Pacific Coast Coal Co., which sponsored the team, was marketing a product called coal briquets, sometimes spelled briquettes. The fuel was comprised of coal fines. Briquets were being made at the Company’s Briquetville plant in Renton on the south end of Lake Washington. The plant opened in 1914. Briquets were a mixture of 94% subbituminous, bituminous, and coking coal with an asphalt binder of 6 percent. The finished product was often stamped with the letter D. The briquet plant was fed by rail lines and operated until May 1939.
Though the players were not identified on the back of the photo, there were periodic transfers between the two teams as both were sponsored by Pacific Coast Coal. The Second Division Briquets team generally featured Ed Banchero, Fred Banchero, Louie Callero, Harvey Feldman, Frank Guidetti, John F. Hollow, Thomas Johnston, C.A. “Beans” Maroni, H. Ogden, Len Pierotti, Charles “Chick” Thompson, and John Thompson.
The First Division Miners team included Mike Cizak, John Clark, Joe Davidson, Dave Forbes, Paul J. Gallagher, Sidney Hardy, Yelmer Hannus, Edward Jackson, Arthur Kelly, William McAuley, Carl Micola, David Murdock, Jack Ogden, James Strang, and Charles “Red” Towers.
The 1926 season began on Labor Day at the same Black Diamond ballfield in use today. The Miners were struck a blow in the October 14th game when Charles Towers sustained a broken leg. “Red” Towers was out for the season. The Miners defeated the powerhouse Todd Shipbuilders, 4-2, in a November game at Woodland Park field that put them atop the Northwest Soccer League. At season’s end in April 1927, a benefit dance was hosted to aid Charles Towers, “the frail little redhead” who’d been injured seven months earlier. Towers was still recovering from two operations, but according to the Pacific Coast newsletter, “a good sum was collected” due to a large attendance at the dance.
This photograph and newsletter information comes courtesy of JoAnne Matsumura, an Issaquah collector and historian.
