Bill Bergesch
Louis William Bergesch (June 17, 1921 – May 10, 2011) was an American Major League Baseball executive. Beginning as a minor league manager and scouting director in the St. Louis Cardinals organization, he would serve in a variety of management and front office roles over a career spanning almost five decades, except for a brief period spent as president of one of the first professional soccer league teams to be established in the United States, the New York Generals. Returning to baseball however, Bergesch would ultimately serve as a senior front office executive or general manager for several major league teams, including most prominently, the Cincinnati Reds and the New York Yankees. Early life Source: He was a native of St. Louis, Missouri. He attended Washington University in St. Louis prior to Pearl Harbor, but joined the U.S. Army in 1942. He served in the First Special Service Force, a unit trained for specialized assault and mountain combat, and a precursor to the U.S. Army Green Berets. He obtained the non-commissioned rank of Platoon Sergeant, and served in combat in North Africa, Sicily, and Italy. In North Africa, he landed as part of the Operation Torch landings, and received his