Nicolas "Joe" Gaetjens scored the lone goal in perhaps the biggest upset in World Cup history, helping the U.S. defeat England 1-0 in 1950 at Belo Horizonte, Brazil. His headed goal humiliated world powerhouse England, and he was carried off the pitch by the locals in celebration -- but it was only fourth-page news back home in the New York Times sports section.
Many on the U.S. team had hoped to manage only a respectable defeat against England. But after Gaetjens dove to deflect a shot by Walter Bahr and beat goalkeeper Burt Williams in the 38th minute, the U.S. managed to withstand England's onslaught for a shocking shutout. The United States would not play another World Cup game until 1990.
Born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, to a Belgian father and Haitian mother, Gaetjens moved to the U.S. in the late 1940s on a Haitian government scholarship to attend Columbia University, also working as a dishwasher. He won the 1950 scoring title playing in New York for Brookhattan in the American Soccer League, going on to play in France after the World Cup, reportedly with Paris Racing Club and Troyes.
Gaetjens soon returned to his native Haiti, where he ran a dry-cleaning business and played weekend soccer -- even taking the field for his native country in a 1953 World Cup qualifier. He never gained U.S. citizenship, having played in the World Cup under the era's looser eligibility rules.
He was arrested on July 8, 1964, by the Tontons Macoutes, Haiti's notorious secret police, which his family considered retaliation for their political activism. He is believed to have been shot to death two days later.
Gaetjens was inducted into the U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame in 1976.
