Otto Decker

{{Short description|German-American soccer player (born 1930)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2019}} {{Use British English|date=December 2019}} {{Infobox football biography |name = Otto Decker |birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1930|9|19|df=y}} |birth_place = Germany |death_date = |death_place = |height = |position = Forward |youthyears1 = |youthclubs1 = Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe |years1 = 1948–1950 |clubs1 = Wycombe Wanderers |caps1 = |goals1 = |years2 = 1952–1954 |clubs2 = Brooklyn Hakoah |caps2 = |goals2 = |totalcaps = |totalgoals = |nationalyears1 = 1953 |nationalteam1 = United States |nationalcaps1 = 1 |nationalgoals1 = 2 }} '''Otto Decker''' (born 19 September 1930) is a German-American former soccer player who earned one cap, scoring two goals, with the U.S. national team in 1953.

==Youth== Decker and his brother Rolf were born in Germany, but grew up in England. In March 1939, their parents, Ilse and Hans, sent the two boys to England as part of the ''kindertransport'' at the outset of World War Two.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://open.salon.com/blog/david_decker/2009/06/19/fathers_and_sons_part_i_of_ii |title=Fathers and Sons, Part I of II: Kindertransport |access-date=9 December 2010 |archive-date=20 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130720062612/http://open.salon.com/blog/david_decker/2009/06/19/fathers_and_sons_part_i_of_ii |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Decker attended the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe, England, from 1948 to 1950 after transferring from Wycombe Technical Institute in 1948. While at RGS, he played both soccer and cricket, as the wicket keeper.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.rgshw.com/oldboys/newsletters/04_05.htm |website=www.rgshw.com |access-date=2023-09-16 |title=Letters to the Editor |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041228130835/http://www.rgshw.com/oldboys/newsletters/04_05.htm |archive-date=28 Dec 2004}}</ref>

==National team== Decker earned his lone cap as a first-half substitute in the only U.S. game of 1953, a 6–3 loss to England. He came on after 30 minutes and scored in the 59th and 67th minutes.{{citation needed|date=September 2023}}

He represented the U.S. as a halfback in soccer at the 1965 Maccabiah Games in Israel.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1965/07/12/96706469.html?pdf_redirect=true&site=false|title=U.S. Soccer Squad Named For 7th Maccabiah Games|work=The New York Times }}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * {{NFT|47294}} * {{WorldFootball.net|otto-decker}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Decker, Otto}} Category:American men's soccer players Category:Competitors at the 1965 Maccabiah Games Category:Maccabiah Games competitors for the United States Category:English men's footballers Category:Wycombe Wanderers F.C. players Category:Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United Kingdom Category:Emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United Kingdom Category:English emigrants to the United States Category:Kindertransport refugees Category:Jewish American soccer players Category:People educated at the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe Category:United States men's international soccer players Category:American Soccer League (1933–1983) players Category:New York Hakoah players Category:1930 births Category:Living people Category:Men's association football forwards Category:People educated at John Hampden Grammar School Category:21st-century American Jews Category:Place of birth missing (living people) Category:20th-century American sportsmen