Benny McLaughlin, a forward whose international career for the USA extended from 1948-55 but who missed the 1950 World Cup because he couldn't get off work, died on Dec. 27 at the age of 84.

The Hall of Famer earned 12 caps and played on its 1948 Olympic team. He played for the USA during World Cup qualifying in 1949 and 1954 and also started in the USA-Scotland game that drew a crowd of 107,765 in Glasgow in 1952.

McLaughlin, who played for Philadelphia's Lighthouse Boys Club and Temple University, debuted with the American Soccer League's Philadelphia Nationals in 1945. He later played with New York Brookhattan, Uhrik Truckers and New York Hakoah in the ASL before finishing his career with the New York German-Hungarians in the German-American Soccer League and Vereinigung Erzgebirge of the United Soccer League of Pennsylvania.