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Razzo Carroll
Sport: Soccer
Born: July 12, 1909
Died: January 14, 1993
Town: Bayonne
Henry C. Carroll was born July 12, 1909 in Bayonne. His friends called him Razzo, a popular word used to described a bright flare or fireworks display. He was a boy with explosive speed and amazing athletic talent. As a student at Bayonne High School, Razzo distinguished himself as the finest all-around athlete in the county. He was an All-State guard on the basketball team and an All-State shortstop on the baseball team. Over the winter of 1927–28, minor league clubs in Baltimore and Jersey City offered him contracts, but he opted to stay in school.
Bayonne High did not field a soccer team. The local soccer clubs gobbled up all the best young players, including Razzo, who played for the Bayonne Rovers. He joined the club at age 14 and played inside right.
In the spring of his junior year, he was invited to St. Louis to try out for the Olympic soccer team. Razzo scored for the East in an East-West All-Star Game and made the squad. Later that year, he set sail for Amsterdam as the youngest member of the US Olympic contingent. The Americans lasted exactly one match, falling to Argentina 11–2. Razzo scored one of the two US goals.
Upon his return to New Jersey, Razzo played with the Brooklyn Wanderers during his senior year and by 1930 was one of their top players. At the same time, he played for the Panzer College soccer team. He was Panzer most prolific scorer. In a game against Stevens Tech, Razzo broke a tie in the waning seconds when he dribbled from one end of the field to the other and scored, evading the entire enemy defense. In a return match against Stevens, he scored two goals in a 4–1 victory.
Later during the 1930s, Razzo starred for the Kearny Scots. In 1934, Razzo tied for the American Soccer League scoring title with the legendary Archie Stark, with each netting 22 goals. Stark played for Kearny’s other pro team, the Irish. During the late-30s and early-40s, Razzo also played for New York Brookhattan, Brooklyn Hispano and the Philadelphia Americans, with whom he won the 1942 ASL championship.
Razzo married Mary Cullinane and raised a family in Bayonne. He passed away in 1999 at the age of 93.
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