Bruno Gerzeli

Bruno Gerzeli (October 3, 1925 – November 8, 1982) was an Italian professional football player.

Bruno Gerzeli
Personal information
Full name Bruno Livio Gerzeli
Date of birth (1925-10-03)October 3, 1925
Place of birth Monfalcone, Italy
Date of death November 8, 1982(1982-11-08) (aged 57)
Place of death Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
Position(s) Forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1942–1943 C.R.D.A Monfalcone
1945–1946 Monfalconese C.N.T.
1946–1947 Venezia 1 (0)
1947–1948 Marzotto Valdagno
1948–1949 Salernitana 9 (2)
1949–1950 Stabia
1950–1951 Biellese 31 (3)
1951–1952 Anconitana 31 (4)
1952 Deportivo Samarios 20 (5)
1954–1955 Aosta 18 (0)
1954–1955 Toronto Hungarians
1956–1958 Toronto Sparta
1963 K.F.C. Estonia
Managerial career
1963 K.F.C. Estonia
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Career

Born in Monfalcone, Gerzeli, a winger, inside forward[1] and centre-forward,[2] started his career in the Serie C side C.R.D.A. Monfalcone, which was the team of his hometown Monfalcone. After World War II, Gerzeli played the 1945-46 Serie C season for Monfalconese (which was the new name of C.R.D.A. Monfalcone); he was then signed by Venezia, a team which was competing in the Serie A. Gerzeli only played one match during the 1946–47 Serie A season, on July 6, 1947, against Triestina. After this one-match experience, he left Venezia and moved to Marzotto Valdagno, coming back to Serie C. He played a Serie B championship in 1948–1949 with Salernitana. In 1952 he decided to leave Italy for Colombia, a nation in which professional football was well-paid because of the so-called El Dorado period. He played for Deportivo Samarios in Colombia along with two other Italian footballers, Corrado Contin and Alessandro Adam.[3] He collected 20 appearances with Samarios, scoring five goals (the first of which was scored against Atlético Nacional on June 1, 1952).[4] In the summer of 1954 he played in the National Soccer League (NSL) with Toronto Hungarians.[5][6] In 1956, he continued playing in the NSL with Toronto Sparta, and was suspended by the league until 1960 after an incident with a referee in late 1958.[7][8] In 1963, he served as a player-coach for K.F.C. Estonia in the National Soccer League.[9]

Personal

After he retired from playing, Gerzeli emigrated to Canada in 1954.[10] He married and moved to the United States where he coached the Brigham Young University soccer program.[11] He was originally baptized as a Roman Catholic, but later converted to Mormonism.[6]

Gerzeli died in Salt Lake City on November 8, 1982, due to hepatitis of the liver.[12]

References
  1. Juventus-Biellese 4-0. Corriere dello Sport, August 28, 1950, p. 3.
  2. Il 29 agosto a Biella riunione degli assi. Corriere dello Sport, August 3, 1950, p. 6.
  3. Statistics at Golgolgol.net Archived June 18, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  4. "Nacional 2 - 2 Samarios" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on February 21, 2013. Retrieved October 25, 2012.
  5. Waring, Ed. "4,000 See Game: 'All-Stars' Lead Ukes In Win Over Hungarians". The Globe and Mail. p. 24.
  6. Spraggett, Allen (December 2, 1967). "The soccer star who joined the Mormons". Toronto Daily Star. p. 57.
  7. Waring, Ed (June 11, 1956). "Italia Wins Another, Blanking Hungarians Before 5,000 Crowd". The Globe and Mail. p. 28.
  8. Waring, Ed (August 29, 1958). "Borchert Scores Pair As Olympia, Italia Tie". The Globe and Mail. p. 30.
  9. Waring, Ed (May 8, 1963). "Canada Impressive, Scottish Soccer Star To Make Home Here". The Globe and Mail. p. 14.
  10. Allen Spraggett (December 2, 1967). "Bruno Gerzeli, the soccer star who joined the Mormons". Toronto Daily Star.
  11. "History of the Church in Italy". David R. Crockett. 11 January 2013.
  12. "Bruno Gerzeli: Social Security Death Index (SSDI) Death Record". Genealogybank.com. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
  • Profile at Enciclopediadelcalcio.it
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