Bruno Gerzeli

Bruno Gerzeli (3 October 1925 – 8 November 1982) was an Italian professional footballer who played as a forward.

Bruno Gerzeli

Personal information
Full name	Bruno Livio Gerzeli
Date of birth	(1925-10-03)3 October 1925
Place of birth	Monfalcone, Italy
Date of death	8 November 1982(1982-11-08) (aged 57)
Place of death	Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
Position(s)	Striker
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1942–1943	C.R.D.A Monfalcone
1945–1946	Monfalconese C.N.T.
1946–1947	Venezia	1	(0)
1947–1948	Marzotto Valdagno
1948–1949	Salernitana	9	(2)
1949–1950	Stabia
1950–1951	Biellese	31	(3)
1951–1952	Anconitana	31	(4)
1952	Deportivo Samarios	20	(5)
1954–1955	Aosta	18	(0)
1954–1955	Toronto Hungarians
1956–1958	Toronto Sparta
1963	K.F.C. Estonia
Managerial career
1963	K.F.C. Estonia
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Career

Born in Monfalcone, Gerzeli, a winger, inside forward^[1] and centre-forward,^[2] started his career in the Serie C side C.R.D.A. Monfalcone, which was the team of his hometown Monfalcone. After World War II, Gerzeli played the 1945-46 Serie C season for Monfalconese (which was the new name of C.R.D.A. Monfalcone); he was then signed by Venezia, a team which was competing in the Serie A. Gerzeli only played one match during the 1946–47 Serie A season, on 6 July 1947, against Triestina. After this one-match experience, he left Venezia and moved to Marzotto Valdagno, coming back to Serie C. He played the Serie B championship in 1948–1949 with Salernitana. In 1952, he decided to leave Italy for Colombia, a nation in which professional football was well-paid because of the so-called El Dorado period. He played for Deportivo Samarios in Colombia along with two other Italian footballers, Corrado Contin and Alessandro Adam.^[3] He collected 20 appearances with Samarios, scoring five goals (the first of which was scored against Atlético Nacional on 1 June 1952).^[4] In the summer of 1954 he played in the National Soccer League (NSL) with Toronto Hungarians.^[5][6] In 1956, he continued playing in the NSL with Toronto Sparta, and was suspended by the league until 1960 after an incident with a referee in late 1958.^[7][8] In 1963, he served as a player-coach for K.F.C. Estonia in the National Soccer League.^[9]

Personal life

After he retired from playing, Gerzeli emigrated to Canada in 1954.^[10] He married and moved to the United States where he coached the Brigham Young University soccer program.^[11] He was originally baptized as a Roman Catholic, but later converted to Mormonism.^[6]

Gerzeli died in Salt Lake City on November 8, 1982, due to hepatitis of the liver.^[12]