Alfonso Negro was an American-born Italian soccer player who is believed to be the first American-born player in Serie A

Serie A

Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...

 and the first American-born player to have play for Italy

Italy national football team

The Italy National Football Team , represents Italy in association football and is controlled by the Italian Football Federation , the governing body for football in Italy. Italy is the second most successful national team in the history of the World Cup having won four titles , just one fewer than...

.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, he started his career with Angri

U.S. Angri Calcio 1927 A.S.D.

Unione Sportiva Angri Calcio 1927 Associazione Sportiva Dilettantistica was an Italian association football club located in Angri, Campania.Angri does not join 2011-12 Serie D and excluded from all football.Its colors were grey and red....

 in Serie C

Serie C

The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico , commonly known as Lega Pro , is the governing body that runs the third and fourth highest football divisions in Italy, the Prima Divisione and Seconda Divisione respectively. It also includes the sole professional club of San Marino...

 at the age of 15. He moved onward to Catanzarese

F.C. Catanzaro

Catanzaro Calcio 2011 is an Italian football club based in Catanzaro, Calabria.The club were founded in 1929 as Catanzarese, then changed their denomnation to Unione Sportiva Catanzaro in 1946, shortly after the end of the World War II and in 2006 to Football Club Catanzaro...

 in Serie B

Serie B

Serie B, currently named Serie bwin due to sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It is contested by 22 teams and organized by the Lega Serie B since July 2010, after the split of Lega Calcio that previously took care of both the...

. While at Catanzarese, he made his international debut with Italy B team

Italy national football team

The Italy National Football Team , represents Italy in association football and is controlled by the Italian Football Federation , the governing body for football in Italy. Italy is the second most successful national team in the history of the World Cup having won four titles , just one fewer than...

 against Hungary in Vercelli

Vercelli

Vercelli is a city and comune of about 47,000 inhabitants in the Province of Vercelli, Piedmont, northern Italy. One of the oldest urban sites in northern Italy, it was founded, according to most historians, around the year 600 BC.The city is situated on the river Sesia in the plain of the river...

.

In 1934, he transferred to Fiorentina

ACF Fiorentina

ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as simply Fiorentina, is a professional Italian football club from Florence, Tuscany. Founded by a merger in 1926, Fiorentina have played at the top level of Italian football for the majority of their existence; only four clubs have played in more Serie A...

 in Serie A

Serie A

Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...

. At that era, three other American-born players -- Armando Frigo

Armando Frigo

Armando Frigo was a former Italian-American soccer player. He was known as the second American-born player after Alfonso Negro to have played in Serie A.-Soccer career:...

, Alfio Argentieri and Umberto Piccolo -- played in Italy at that time, but only Armando Frigo

Armando Frigo

Armando Frigo was a former Italian-American soccer player. He was known as the second American-born player after Alfonso Negro to have played in Serie A.-Soccer career:...

 played in the Serie A

Serie A

Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...

. Alfonso Negro played 51 games for Fiorentina, and scored five goals, before being transferred to Napoli

S.S.C. Napoli

Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli, commonly referred to as Napoli, is a professional Italian football club based in Naples and founded in 1926. The club has spent most of its history in Serie A, where it currently plays its 2011–12 season....

 in 1938, where he played 25 games and scored three goals.

He also entered university where he played for his school team. He was selected to play for Italy at the 1936 Olympic Games

Football at the 1936 Summer Olympics

The 1936 Olympic football tournament, won by Italy, has come to share an affinity with the political backdrop against which it was being played; in terms of the history of football, however, the tournament suffered as a reaction to the development of the FIFA World Cup.The introduction of the first...

. He scored a goal against Norway and going on to win a gold medal. He graduated in medicine and surgery at Florence University and during the war served as a medical officer in Greece. Following the war he became a specialist in obstetrics

Obstetrics

Obstetrics is the medical specialty dealing with the care of all women's reproductive tracts and their children during pregnancy , childbirth and the postnatal period...

 and gynaecology

Gynaecology

Gynaecology or gynecology is the medical practice dealing with the health of the female reproductive system . Literally, outside medicine, it means "the science of women"...

 and became a lecturer. He died in Florence, Italy on November 7, 1984.