Editor’s note Each month, Le Journal invites you to follow the family history of several personalities rooted in our country. Jacques Noël is a sociologist by training and has been passionate about genealogy for forty years. He is the author of the essay La diaspora québécoise. This impressive diaspora, which shines at the forefront of the arts, sports and politics, is completely ignored by Quebecers.
Do you want to shut up your European, African or Latino friends who know everything about the World Cup? Ask them who scored the first hat trick?
Montevideo, 1930. 13 teams made the long journey to Uruguay for the first World Cup.
Contested performance
On July 17, the United States beat Paraguay 3-0. Bertrand Patenaude, 20, the youngest in the team, scored the three goals. But the second is disputed as the Paraguayan player counted in his net. The official match report attributes the goal to Tom Florie, while the American FA attributes it to Patenaude. Without consensus, the achievement is marked with an asterisk.
Two days later, Argentina’s Guillermo Stabile scored three goals against Mexico. For 76 years, Stabile was hailed by FIFA as the first player to score a hat-trick at a World Cup.
In the Patenaude family, we knew that Bert (as he was known) had pulled off the feat, but what could we do about the damn starlet? Against the mighty FIFA? In 1995, a former 1930 teammate, Arnie Oliver, happened to meet a sports historian, Colin Jose. Together they decide to build a solid case.
You can find in the archives a copy of the journal O Estadio de Sao Paulo dated July 19, 1930, which states that Patenaude (Petenande) scored all the goals. Then in La Prensa de Buenos Aires we provided graphics of the three goals and attributed them all to the Franco-American. Jose adds testimonies from teammates and presents the case to FIFA.
The answer came 11 years later! On November 10, 2006, FIFA announced that Patenaude had indeed scored the first hat-trick of the World Cup. “According to various fans and historians, the evidence and the extensive research and confirmations by the American Soccer Federation were decisive for our decision.”
His family from Quebec
Joseph-Arthur Bertrand Patenaude was born on November 4, 1909 in Fall River, Massachusetts. His father, Wilfrid (1874-1948), a barber, was from Napierville; his mother Rosanna Mailloux (1876-1932) from St-Armand. Wilfrid’s parents emigrated in 1879. The 1930 census tells us that French was still spoken at home half a century after they emigrated.
Contrary to what you might think, soccer was a very popular sport back in Fall River. “His parents bought him a ball that Bertrand could kick for hours. He used his shoes to the bone,” says his grandson Bert III, who teaches history at Stanford University.
After his successes in South America, Patenaude played in the American Soccer League and scored 114 goals in 158 games. After his career he worked as a house painter and married Léona Marchand, another child from the diaspora.
He died on November 4, 1974, his 65th birthday.
Paternal line of Bertrand Patenaude
Reproduction of a photograph from the family collection provided by Bertrand M. Patenaude
A rare portrait of Bertrand Patenaude taken from the family’s personal collection and given to our chronicler.
I. PATENAUDE, Wilfrid (1874-1948)
Mailloux, Rosanna (1876-1932)
Married 12 October 1897 in Fall River, Massachusetts
II. PATENAUDE, Leon (1848-1928)
BISSON, Marie-Mathilde (1850-?)
Mister. October 4, 1870, St-Rémi-de-LaSalle, Napierville
III. PATENAUDE, Marc (1798-1860)
DESCENT SANSPITIE, Marie (1803-1895)
Mister. February 6, 1826, St-Joachim-de-Châteauguay
IV PATENAUDE, Michel (1764-1843?)
GERVAIS, Marie-Charlotte (1763-1801)
Mister. October 23, 1786, Saint-Antoine, Longueuil
v. PATENAUDE, Francois (1701-1765)
Achin, Ursula, (1704-1744)
Mister. February 16, 1722, St-Antoine, Longueuil
VI. PATENAUDE, Pierre (1658-1715)
BRUNET-BELHUMEUR, Catherine (1669-1732)
Mister. November 25, 1685, Notre-Dame of Montreal
vii Patenostre, Nicholas (1626-1679)
BRETON, Margaret (1631-1698)
Mister. October 30, 1651, Quebec