Bert Patenaude

Bertrand "Bert" Arthur Patenaude (/ˈpætnoʊd/; November 4, 1909 – November 4, 1974) was an American soccer player. Although earlier disputed, he is now officially credited by FIFA as the scorer of the first hat-trick in World Cup history. He is a member of the United States Soccer Hall of Fame.

Patenaude's historic day came on July 17, 1930, as the United States played Paraguay in the inaugural World Cup. Patenaude scored the opening goal in the tenth minute. A second goal in the fifteenth minute had been credited several different ways: as an own goal by Aurelio González (according to the RSSSF), a regular goal by the U.S.'s Tom Florie (according to the official FIFA match record), or as Patenaude's second goal (according to the United States Soccer Federation). A fiftieth-minute goal by Patenaude gave the U.S. a 3-0 win over the South Americans.

The dispute and discrepancies over the second goal had led to confusion over the first-ever World Cup hat-trick, as Argentina's Guillermo Stábile scored one against Mexico just two days after the USA-Paraguay game. However, FIFA announced on November 10, 2006, that Patenaude was indeed the first person to score a hat-trick in World Cup play, confirming that he scored all three goals.

Patenaude was inducted into the U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame in 1971. He died in Fall River on his sixty-fifth birthday.