San Jose Earthquakes Hall of Fame - Class of 2019

Congrats to Richard and Oby! Both well deserved. Used to crack up watching Oby run onto the field to treat an injured Quake.

 

I moved here in 87, so I am not familiar with "Oby", but immediately got a picture in my mind:

 

Obey was a good trainer but what about players like Best and Zungul? Shouldn't they deserve a mention?

 

You can take it up with the voters, but both were only on the team for two seasons, which is pretty minimal for a Hall of Fame status. I'd rather see Jeff Agoos, Dwayne DeRosario, and Frank Yallop.

 

Obie - close to Ogie, but maybe he also gets a name-check in Alice's Restaurant:


Officer William "Obie" Obanheim

 

They were very important players though and they put the club on a worldwide map. When people think of the NASL Quakes, those players enter everyone’s mind. Pele played three seasons with the Cosmos and his name is synonymous not only with them but with soccer across the USA.

With all do respect to both Obey or his successor Mark Belmont , they weren't really club protagonists, nor did they ever kick a ball. I'm happy for him but I don't recall him trotting out to take care of players. Thinking back to that era,
I'm sure he did but I don't remember it. Heck I remember John Rowland’s decking Frank Worthington giving him a bloody nose or fans surrounding a referee when trying to leave the Spartan Stadium field but I don’t remember Obey.

 

George played two years on crappy Quakes teams. While I loved watching him, he didn't do anything special as a Quakes to warrant him on the HOF. Zungal played for the team after the NASL folded. Nobody watched that team and it was barely a professional league. He played all of two seasons. Indoors doesn't count.

 

Yes, but, Falvo's George Best Photo Thread should be in the BigSoccer Hall of Fame.

 

At least Best was one of the greatest players in the world , a household name and is still talked about on a daily basis. Zungul was the last NASL outdoor MVP and was a pure goal scorer. Other than Chinaglia, I can't remember seeing too many goal scorers like him in that era. Best also scored the greatest NASL or MLS goal ever. Former Seattle Sounders midfielder , Adrian Webster was saying the same thing to me just a few months ago. He was definitely the greatest and most famous player the Quakes ever had. They both created excitement and long lasting memories but with all due respect to him, no one ever heard of Dave Obenour.

Heck even Laurie Calloway who represented local soccer teams across four eras, deserves it more that Obie.

 

We could cheer the Quakes from the "Group W" bench!

 

Just a quick post regarding when Zungul played for the Quakes. He played for the Earthquakes during the last two seasons of the NASL, not after the league folded. In fact, then owner, Carl Berg, had to get a federal court order against FIFA to allow Zungul to earn his living by playing for the Quakes (true story...the court ruled that FIFA had no standing to disallow any legal US resident from working....Zungul was on the FIFA sh*tlist for not honoring his contract with Hadjuk Split in was then Yugoslavia...he took a vacation to New York, with club permission, then just stayed in the US...legally of course). Zungul was easily one of the best players, arguably the best player (by some), in the history of the Quakes...was good for 20+ goals per season.

 

Coach Don Popovic told me FIFA didn't show up when they went to the Supreme Court to argue his case. They had no legal right to prevent him from playing, applying his trade and making a living. Not by a US or International law.

After playing 5 + indoor seasons, in one of his first outdoor games in 1983 against the Russian National Champion, Dynamo Minsk , Steve Zungul was still a superior player and ahead of his teammates or opponents. He scored as did Polish International Stan Terlecki who was also banned from Poland and Englishman Godfrey Ingram. Looking back, maybe the game is slower and changed a bit but as Chris Dangerfield says, that was the greatest Quakes team of all time , NASL or MLS.

 

On GM John Carbray & Owner Carl Berg's suggestion, the team was named the Golden Bay Earthquakes.

They were trying to cash in on the indoor soccer boom playing indoors at the in the winter at the Oakland Colosseum Arena and outdoor at Spartan Stadium in San Jose during the spring and summer months.

 

Yes, I will own up to my error regarding the team moniker. Most of us long term fans never really acknowledged "Golden Bay" as legit anyway. Like Falvo noted, it was merely a marketing gimmick, one that likely made no difference in terms of fan acceptance or attendance. Regardless of the name, they were still the "Earthquakes", playing in the venerable relic, Spartan Stadium, albeit with the postage stamp sized pitch, one of the reasons the home team always had the widely acknowledged home field advantage, even when the teams were not very good. When there was a good team, it was virtually unbeatable at Spartan (there were almost always exceptions to that rule, although the year they tied Dynamo Minsk in the preseason, they did not lose at home until the last game of that season....unfortunately in the playoffs).

 

You're going to keel over when Shea Salinas is inducted.

 

Awesome day for Obie and his family.

Congratulations on your Earthquakes Hall of fame !

 

We're you there? I have pics from the opposite angle.

 

No....a former NASL player I know was....

 

If we are considering non players, shouldn't Krazy George get a vote to the Hall of Fame? He has had an affinity with the Quakes and Bay Area soccer since 1974. I believe he was involved with the Quakes, Stompers, Blackhawks for a game or two , the 1994 WC at Stanford and the Clash /Quakes of MLS.....