HERSHEY, Pa. — The small Pennsylvania community of Hershey is widely celebrated as the “Sweetest Place on Earth,” a nod to its chocolate-making heritage. But these days, the town has another claim to fame: it’s the hometown of Christian Pulisic, the biggest star on a U.S. national soccer team that’s making a serious run at the World Cup as one of the tournament’s co-hosts.
The Americans punched their ticket to the round of 16 on Wednesday with a 2-0 victory over Bosnia-Herzegovina, setting up a Monday showdown against Belgium.
“Hershey to me is everything — it’s where my family is from, it’s where I grew up,” Pulisic said in a recent Instagram post, where he was also promoting limited-edition Pulisic’s Milk Chocolate Bars produced by the Hershey Company, complete with custom wrappers bearing his signature. “It’s where I learned how to play. It’s just home.”
Pulisic was raised in this south-central Pennsylvania town, nestled among farms and gently rolling hills, where even the streetlights along Chocolate Avenue are shaped like Hershey’s Kisses. The community was established in 1903 by Milton S. Hershey, the American businessman and philanthropist who also built worker housing, a hotel, and a theme park — one Pulisic frequently visited with his family growing up.
More than 120 years later, the Hershey Company remains the backbone of what locals call Chocolatetown, USA. But the “Man Behind the Chocolate Bar” now shares the title of hometown hero with the soccer player the world knows as “Captain America.”
Pulisic’s ties to Hershey go far beyond geography, and as the U.S. team has delivered some of the most thrilling soccer in recent memory, his community has been cheering every step of the way.
“It’s pretty amazing that he came from Hershey and played for my club,” said Cecelia Stefanelli, a rising freshman at Hershey High School, who was recently seen scoring a goal against her father on a field where Pulisic once played.
The U.S. team’s win Wednesday evening marked their first World Cup elimination-round victory in 24 years. Despite playing shorthanded for more than 35 minutes, they defeated Bosnia-Herzegovina 2-0 in the round of 32. Pulisic was back on the field after missing the second group-stage game with a calf injury and playing only 33 minutes as a substitute in the final group match against Turkey.
“I’d love if USA won the World Cup; it’d make me happy,” said Stefanelli, a center back who also plays for the Pennsylvania Classics soccer club — the same organization Pulisic credits with shaping his development. He spent eight years with PA Classics and returned in 2021 to cut the ribbon on new fields he personally funded and helped design. Those fields are now called the Pulisic Stomping Grounds.
The club sits in Lancaster County, surrounded by chicken and dairy farms whose pungent smell of manure and fermenting feed drifts across the fields.
On a recent afternoon, players Liam Gustafson and Moussa Oumarou were juggling and passing a soccer ball during warm-ups in front of a sprawling photo collage documenting Pulisic’s journey — from early childhood training sessions to his starring role on the U.S. World Cup squad.
“It’s really special to see someone from around here, where we live, playing in the World Cup,” said Gustafson, a 17-year-old forward who dreams of a professional career and looks up to Pulisic as his role model. “It’s really inspiring to see someone who paved the way, so that we can do that someday.”
Pulisic’s path to soccer stardom began early, shaped in large part by his parents. He was born in Hershey on September 18, 1998, to Kelley and Mark Pulisic, who both played collegiate soccer at George Mason University. His father later played professional indoor soccer for the Harrisburg Heat. The family spent a year in England while his mother participated in a Fulbright Program teacher exchange, during which a 7-year-old Pulisic played for the Brackley Town youth team.
“Mark and Kelley could write a playbook on how to raise a humble, smart, kind superstar, while maintaining family relationships,” said Tara Seymour, a family friend and retired health and physical education teacher at Hershey Middle School. Seymour met the Pulisics at a soccer camp and developed a close friendship with Pulisic’s mother.
“She just quietly said to me one time, ‘We have never seen anything like this,’” Seymour recalled. “This is a kid who could juggle the soccer ball hundreds of times when he was in elementary school.” Pulisic, she added, would spend hours in his backyard practicing moves he watched professional players perform on television.
“He has an intensity that couldn’t be taught,” Seymour said. “I think he had the opportunity to go pro earlier or go to Europe earlier and they held back just to make sure emotionally and maturity-wise he was ready.”
After the family returned to Hershey, Pulisic joined PA Classics at age 10. Doug Harris, the club’s president and co-founder, said Pulisic’s exceptional ability allowed him to compete with older age groups, even though he was often the smallest player on the pitch.
“I think if you were to pull kids in the world who want to achieve the level of Christian Pulisic, you’d have millions that would step up, raise their hand. They’re all gifted; they all can play,” Harris said. “But there’s something fundamental about what Christian has been able to do and I’d credit Mark and Kelley Pulisic with a lot of that.”
The last time the U.S. men’s team won a World Cup knockout match was June 17, 2002, when they beat Mexico 2-0 in the round of 16 in South Korea. Pulisic has said the team’s mentality heading into this round remains unchanged, and the atmosphere in the squad stays relaxed despite the enormous pressure.
“It’s just special to be here,” he said. “You just don’t want it to end.”
Before the Bosnia-Herzegovina match, PA Classics coaches Brittney Jakobson and Nick Jakobson brought their children, Declan and Camden, out to kick a ball at Pulisic’s former training ground. Both coaches believe the U.S. has a real shot at winning the whole tournament — but they say the team’s impact goes well beyond any trophy.
“Their goal is to inspire a generation and it’s really fun to see that happening in real time … to hear people going out and watching the games, to see people buying the jerseys,” Brittney Jakobson said.
“Pulisic, obviously, in the short term is a great kind of figure to follow,” Nick Jakobson added. “But he does very much encourage that it’s not just about him. It’s not about just these four years. It’s about the next eight, 12, 16. It’s forward-thinking, and they’re laying a good foundation for what we can build on.”
