A Little All-American in football at Providence College, he quit school to play semi-pro baseball, then played pro football for ten years, nine with the New York Giants. In the 1938 NFL title game, he scored the winning touchdown on a 23-yard pass from Ed Danowski, as the Giants defeated Green Bay before a then-record championship game crowd of 48,120 at the Polo Grounds. One year after he left football, Soar coached the Providence Steam Roller (Basketball Association of America) to a woeful 2-17 record in 1947.
In the army during WWII, Soar caught Connie Mack‘s eye when he umpired an exhibition game, and Mack alerted AL officials. Soar umpired in the New England League in 1947-48 and the American Association in 1949 before spending 22 seasons as one of the AL’s top arbiters.
