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The San Francisco Italian Athletic Club is a men's social and athletic club located at 1630 Stockton Street on Washington Square, North Beach in San Francisco, California.
History
The current club was the result of the merger of several smaller Italian sports clubs in San Francisco. The first club formed in 1917 and was called Circolo Recreativo Italiano Virtus. In 1919 a second club emerged called Unione Sportiva Italiana. Shortly thereafter Sporting Club Italia began in 1920. The following year SC Italia joined with Virtus becoming Italia Virtus Club. In 1926 they merged with Unione to become the largest Italian sports club in the country as Unione Sportiva Italiana Virtus. By 1936 the current building of the club had been completed at which point they became known as Italian Athletic Club. Negative sentiment during the WWII period led to the club dropping 'Italian' from their name and continued as simply San Francisco Athletic Club until 1979 when 'Italian' was once again part of their name.
Athletics
The club has participated in numerous sporting activities including baseball, basketball cycling, fencing, gymnastics, running, and soccer. Their Statuto Race is among the oldest annual foot races in the country having started back in 1919 to commemorate Italy's first constitution as a cohesive nation. One of the club's highest achievements was accomplished by their soccer team when they won the 1976 National Challenge Cup[1]Steve Negoesco, of USF fame, was the coach of the champion soccer team. Other notable people from the SFIAC club are Ray Piva (runner), Steve Landi (power lifter), Gino Cimoli (baseball), and Steve Mariucci (football).
