Rolf Valtin

German-born Rolf Wiegelmesser was not only of Jewish heritage, but was also a Quaker, both of which were vulnerable identities in Nazi Germany. His family, therefore, fled to the United States in 1938 and settled in Pennsylvania, where Rolf entered Swarthmore College in 1942 and took up football (soccer). After only one year, however, he was drafted into the United States Army and served during World War II, including as part of Operation Overlord on Omaha Beach.

Wiegelmesser returned to Swarthmore after World War II as Lieutenant Rolf Valtin and resumed his soccer career, becoming an all-American in the sport in 1947. He graduated the following year with a degree in economics and was selected to represented the United States at the football tournament at the 1948 Summer Olympics, but only as a reserve, and he did not appear in any matches. He then played one season with the Philadelphia Americans (now the Uhrik Truckers) of the American Soccer League in 1949. He earned a master’s degree in 1950 from the University of Pennsylvania and went on to have a career in labor relations, becoming President of the National Academy of Arbitrators in 1975. He was made a member of Swarthmore College’s Garnet Athletics Hall of Fame in 2013.