Frank Ambler

Frank James Ambler... soccer family (father Harry)... his father Harry was born in England while his mother Margaret was born in Scotland... he was born during the 1919-20 soccer season when his father played in Scotland... he was just six months old when his family moved from Scotland to Winnipeg; his family later moved from Winnipeg to Chicago and then Vancouver... he was married to wife Alda Stefani (their daughter Gail)... he was 58 years old when he passed away in Vancouver on 21 March 1978 (he was buried at Ocean View Burial Park)... served in World War II... worked as a fireman... played soccer, and baseball, softball, and basketball...

posthumously honoured by the Canada Soccer Hall of Fame as a player... posthumously honoured by the Soccer Hall of Fame of British Columbia...

a two-time Dominion of Canada Football Championship winner (Challenge Trophy in 1947 and 1949)... a five-time Pacific Coast League winner (1940-41, 1943-44, 1946-47, 1948-49, 1954-55)... a seven-time all-star selection in a 10-year span from 1943 to 1952... over the course of his career, he scored 121 goals in the Pacific Coast Soccer League (he was the third player to reach the 100-goal milestone on 8 March 1952)... over the course of one decade, he was the Pacific Coast League’s third-highest scorer in the 1940s with 85 goals scored... he was Vancouver St. Andrews FC’s joint third-best goalscorer across their post-1939 Pacific Coast League history (37 goals scored across three stints in 1940-41, 1944-45 and 1946-47, third best behind Brian Philley’s 41 goals)... he was Firefighters FC’s fifth-best goalscorer across their Pacific Coast League history (32 goals scored from 1951-52 to 1955-56, fifth best behind Jim Blundell’s 92 goals)... he was part of the first father-and-son combination to win the Dominion of Canada Football Championship (father Harry in 1914 with Norwood Wanderers; son Frank in 1947 with Vancouver St. Andrews FC)...

as noted in 1946, he was “one of Vancouver’s most popular athletes (who) starred in baseball, soccer and lacrosse before going overseas with the Canadian Army”... wrote Tommy Cumming in 1947, “with Ambler at centre, St. Andrews have one of the sweetest opportunists since Bob Forgie played in the same position for the Scots... (as) the Scots forward line must do its own hustling and play making... a boy of Ambler’s craft, ball control and speed are really necessary”... as noted in a 1947 program, “fast and tricky... an all-around athlete, starring in baseball and basketball... wrote Austin Delany in 1948, “it has been said by Bob Calder, Scottish international referee, that both (Frank) Ambler and (Davie) Brown could command fancy prices if in first class company at home”... as noted in a 1949 all-star program, “one of the fastest men in the league today”... wrote Austin Delany in 1951, Frank was “a grand opportunist who knows how to play against the third-back game”... as noted in a 1951 all-star program, “shifty and clever, with a flare for the unexpected; extremely quick over the first five yards and seldom outjumped in the air; a real opportunist”... wrote Eric Whitehead in 1952, “many soccer critics and players call centre forward Frank Ambler the finest all-round forward ever developed in British Columbia”... said Davie Brown in 1952, Frank Ambler is a really great team man. Dead easy to play beside and a guy who knows what to do with the ball when you give it to him”...