Florence Township Soccer Association Honors Gene Olaff

Gene was born in Bayonne, NJ in 1920 where he started playing soccer at the age of 12.  He was selected as his team’s goalkeeper from an early age because of his size.  During his playing days he stood 6' 1” and weighed 180 pounds.  He is recognized as the premier goalkeeper of the late 1940’s and known for his dominance with high balls and the length of his goal kicks.

Gene helped the Hatikvoh Football Club of Brooklyn and the Brooklyn Swedish Football Club win the National League Cups in the late 1930’s and early 1940’s.  He was also in goal for the Brooklyn Hispano when they won the U.S. Open Cup in 1943, both the U.S. Open Cup and the American League championship in 1944 and the Lewis Cup in 1946.

Shortly after the match against Scotland he was asked by U.S. national team coach Erno Schwartz to play in the 1950 World Cup in Brazil.  Since Gene was not able to obtain a leave of absence from the State Police to join the team, he had to make a choice between soccer and his career.  Gene chose his career.

Gene Olaff’s success was not limited to the soccer field.  During World War II, Gene served with the United States Navy as a Diver First Class.  At age 25, he joined the New Jersey State Police where he would rise to the rank of Colonel and be appointed Superintendent of the New Jersey State Police before his retirement in 1974.  Shortly thereafter he joined David Kelly in forming D.B. Kelly Associates, a security firm that grew from 15 employees in 1978 to 2500 when the business was finally sold in 1996.  

In 1954 Gene initiated a Youth Recreation Program in Florence and later served as president of the Florence Township Recreational Youth Committee for 20 years.  He continues to be involved with both the recreational and the high school soccer programs.