Earthquakes history -- NASL style!, Part 2

NASL Dateline: On 3 October 1984, the Chicago Sting got 2 late goals from Pato Margetic - including the game-winner in the 82nd minute - and captured their 2nd NASL championship with a 3-2 victory over the Toronto Blizzard in Game 2 of the Soccer Bowl '84 Series before 16,842 at Varsity Stadium.


This was the last NASL game ever.

No one knew at that point that the NASL would fold.

As I recall reading in La gazzetta dello sport , Roberto Bettega was offered to play with Udinese in November that year with hopes of returning to the Blizzard in 1985 but it wasn’t to be.

I recall he got in a car accident in December then the NASL folded.

This was also Bettega’s last game....

How sad!!





NASL Action: Los Angeles Aztecs defender Mihalj Keri works past San Jose Earthquakes midfielder Steve Ryan in NASL Indoor play at the Sports Arena.




NASL Fans: Robert Iarusci / New York Cosmos




NASL Ticket Brochures: Team America stuck with the "national-team-in-training" theme for ticket sales in its lone NASL season.



NASL Head Shots: San Jose Earthquakes, 1981
















Happy 80th birthday to Scotland international Willie Morgan, the mercurial winger who scored 58 goals in extended runs with Burnley (1960-68), Manchester United (1968-75) and Bolton Wanderers (1976-80) while also playing in the 1974 FIFA World Cup, then spent his summers on loan in the NASL with the Chicago Sting (1977) and Minnesota Kicks (1978-80), earning all-NASL honors in 1977.

 

The league was fading the last couple of years. No improvement in play, retirement league, and limited growth in US players. Attendance in SJ started dropping in the late 70s and never recovered. No surprise the league folded.

 

Happy 60th birthday to Canada international Colin Miller (number 24 next to Quakes Mexican international midfielder , Leonardo Cuellar), the Scottish-born defender who turned pro with the Toronto Blizzard at the age of 17 in 1982 and went on to play 23 games in 3 NASL seasons en route to Soccer Bowl '83 and Soccer Bowl '84 final appearances -- and was a member of Canada's 1986 FIFA World Cup squad -- then spent much of the next 15 years with top Scottish clubs like Glasgow Rangers (1984-86), Doncaster Rovers (1986-88), Heart of Midlothian (1995), Dunfermline (1995-98) and Ayr United (1998), then turned to coaching and was twice named to lead the Canadian National Team on an interim basis.



Happy 73rd birthday to Mark Demling (pictured at right), the American defender and the younger of 2 brothers to play in the NASL who helped Saint Louis University to 3 NCAA titles from 1970 to 1973 -- with Demling as captain in 1973 -- then was drafted by the San Jose Earthquakes and spent 7 seasons in the NASL, recording 2 goals in 56 games and ultimately closing out his career with the MISL's San Francisco Fog in 1980-81.









Happy 76th birthday to Roy Evans (pictured in white), the English center back who developed through the Liverpool youth system and spent the 1973 NASL season on loan to the expansion Philadelphia Atoms -- scoring 2 goals in 19 games and helping Philadelphia win the NASL title -- then pivoted to a coaching career with Liverpool (1994-98), Fulham (2000) and Swindon Town (2001).




Soccer in the 1970s: The Los Angeles Aztecs access to show biz personalities meant that actors, musicians, moguls and even teen heart throbs - like Leif Garrett, show here with Johan Cruyff - got the star treatment.




NASL Dateline: On 4 October 1977, former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (pictured at center) is named Chairman of the NASL's Board of Governors, giving the former Harvard professor and self-professed soccer fan powerful leverage in dictating the development of the sport in America. Kissinger's post also came with the right to create an NASL expansion franchise, but Kissinger never exercised that right, and later famously said, "The politics of soccer make me nostalgic for the politics of the Middle East.”





NASL Dateline: On 4 October 1980, Giorgio Chinaglia scored to cancel out a Manuel Fernandes strike as the New York Cosmos played to a 1-1 draw with Sporting Lisbon in a friendly match before 35,000 in Portugal.







NASL Action: Seattle Sounders forward Peter Ward is watched closely by New York Cosmos defender Carlos Alberto in Soccer Bowl '82 at Jack Murphy Stadium.…

 

Happy birthday, Mark Demling!


Donated his 1974 kit to History San Jose.

 

North American Soccer League
Martijn Schokkenbroek · ·

Former New York Cosmos player Johan Neeskens suddenly passed away at age 73.
The Netherlands lost one of their best player ever.

As time passes, I find more former NASL players passing away and it seems unreal as I remember them as young, lively , effective players and it is ver sad.

RIP Johan Neeskens

 

It was a different time.

In those days or 1984, too many owners and teams had come and gone.

There was no Internet, social media, cable TV had just begun, and Apple just got off the ground.

Teams had to rent out stadiums and relied on ticket sales for their income.

This building your park and they will come (SSS -MLS) mentality hadn’t begun yet.

The advent of indoor soccer league (or MISL) also in my opinion lead to the NASL’s demise.

The NASL had no business plan whatsoever.

I think the commissioner Phil Woosnam and leagues heads believed the media’s press releases of the NASL's heyday and then owners couldn't handle the 1981 recession and the leagues sudden demise.

Then you had Howard Samuels 1984–85 and Clive Toye who was appointed after Samuels’ death.

Toye was appointed interim president of the NASL in December 1984 and the league ceased operations in February 1985.

Maybe had the USA been awarded the 1986 World Cup, things may have been different, but it wasn't to be.

They were awarded the 94 WC tournament on July 4th, 1988 so that was good but it was 4 years after the NASL had already folded.

When I think back to that time and compare it to now, everything was just so different.

There are many things about MLS that I hate but on the other hand, comparing it to the old NASL, there is simply no comparison.

 

Good summary. I think the indoor comment is very interesting and something that I hadn't thought about before (Note: I wasn't an indoor fan. It wasn't soccer to me.).

As someone playing club and high school, I wanted to see a path to playing professional. The NASL did a poor to non-existent job of providing that vision. Sure, they had Kyle Rote and a few others, but few teams were developing or adding US players. When people got tired of seeing old guy's who couldn't run anymore and were paid too much, well, it didn't work out so well.

 

Yeah, indoor soccer was fun to play but it shouldn't have taken away from the outdoor game.

Also, there was no real national team to speak of.

There were some good players but it was always one step forward and one back.

The Team American experiment of 1983 proved to be a total flop.

The idea was good but most of the USMNT top players of that time didn’t want to play on that team and chose to remain with their clubs.

At that time, Team Canada was far superior to the US side.

You are right about the American players; they were virtually nonexistent.

When the old foreign guys got too old or retired, there was no one else to replace them who was even remotely close to their skill level.

Even after the NASL folded and the WSA and new ASL came about, the players were amateur or college players at best and nowhere near as good as the old NASL guys.

We went from watching the best players in the world to seeing the equivalent of Bay Area high school and college all-stars only a few years later.

The SF Bay Blackhawks seemed to have ambition when they started in 1989 but then even they died in 1993.

Except for the World Cup tournament of 1994, the period between 1985-1995 was just a horrible time for soccer across North America.

 

Today is the 80th anniversary of the birth of Jimmy Johnstone, one of the best footballers in the history of Scotland and Celtic
James Connolly Johnstone

James Connolly Johnstone
Birth date: September 30, 1944
Place of birth: Viewpark, Scotland
Date of death: March 13, 2006 (61)
Position: Forward
Matches (Goals): 577 (141)
National Team:
1964-74 Scotland 23 (4)
Clubs:
1962-75 Celtic
1975 San Jose Earthquakes
1975-77 Sheffield United
1977 Dundee
1977-78 Shelbourne
1978-79 Elgin City
Honours:
Scottish First Division: 1965–66, 1966–67, 1967–68, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1973–74
Scottish Cup: 1966–67, 1970–71, 1971–72, 1973–74
Scottish League Cup: 1965–66, 1966–67, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1974–75
European Cup : 1967
Home Championship: 1966–67, 1969–70, 1971–72, 1973–74
Individual:
Ballon d'Or (3rd place): 1967
Jimmy Johnstone

 

Happy 77th birthday to Gerrit Vooys (pictured in yellow), the 6-foot-2 Dutch goalkeeper who made 240 appearances with AZ '67 and captured the 1978 KNVB Cup, then spent the 1978 NASL season on loan to the San Jose Earthquakes where he posted a 2.09 goals against average in 7 games.



NASL Memories: Bob Stetler was a top-flight college wrestler who chose soccer as a career and became a top-flight goalkeeper in the NASL. Born on 10 October 1952, Stetler was an All-American wrestler at East Stroudsburg State University but was good enough to earn a contract with the Tampa Bay Rowdies in 1975 and spent 2 seasons with the club, helping Tampa Bay win the 1976 NASL Indoor title. A fan favorite throughout his career, Stetler later played for the Washington Diplomats (1977-79), Memphis Rogues (1980) and San Jose Earthquakes (1981) -- posting 8 career shutouts -- and played the 1980-81 MISL season with the Phoenix Inferno. Sadly, Stetler died in a car accident in 1990 at the age of 38.





Happy 63rd birthday to Diego Castro (bottom row, 2nd from right), the Chilean midfielder who signed with the Chicago Sting in 1982 and sandwiched 2 seasons of indoor soccer around the 1983 NASL campaign, then scored 15 career goals in 4 MISL campaigns with the Dallas Sidekicks (1985-86) and Wichita Wings (1986-87, 1990-92), and another 2 in the AISA with the Memphis Storm (1987-89).



Happy 80th birthday to England international Rodney Marsh, the pied piper of Florida soccer whose wit and wizardry made him a natural for the NASL boom of the 1970s, when he followed 15 top-flight seasons with Fulham, Queen's Park Rangers and Manchester City (1962-76) by joining the Tampa Bay Rowdies in 1976 and transforming that side into must-see soccer, scoring 48 goals in 98 games, leading Tampa Bay to the Soccer Bowl '78 and Soccer Bowl '79 finals, winning the 1976 NASL Indoor title, earning 4 all-NASL honors, and building the franchise into a bona fide rival to the New York Cosmos, then later coaching the Rowdies (1984) and steering the Carolina Lightnin' to the 1981 ASL championship.



NASL Dateline: On 11 October 1981, Peter Lorimer scored both goals on penalty kicks to help the Vancouver Whitecaps forge a 2-2 draw with Nottingham Forest midway through a 6-match post-season European tour before 8,800 at City Ground.…



NASL Dateline: On 11 October 1981, the San Jose Earthquakes remained winless on their 5-game post-season exhibition tour of Great Britain by dropping a 5-2 decision to Motherwell of Scotland at Fir Park.




NASL Action: Vancouver Whitecaps forward Brian Budd battles for a header with San Jose Earthquakes defender Derek Craig at Empire Stadium.







Happy 65th birthday to Vince Hilaire (number 10), the English youth international who scored 70 goals in a 17-year career with clubs like Portsmouth, Leeds United, Crystal Palace and Stoke City -- made more challenging due to the racial abuse that was rampant in European soccer at the time -- and spent the 1982 NASL season on loan to the San Jose Earthquakes, where he scored 3 goals in 22 matches.



NASL Memories: Jimmy Gabriel was a Scottish international midfielder who made more than 500 appearances for top clubs like Dundee, Everton, Southampton and AFC Bournemouth over 15 seasons, then jumped to the NASL and became integral to the success of soccer in Seattle. Born on 10 October 1940, Gabriel joined the expansion Seattle Sounders in 1974 and scored the first goal in Kingdome history in 1976. He also notched 7 goals over 6 NASL seasons and earned all-NASL honors in 1974, but may have played his biggest role in helping the Seattle Sounders reach Soccer Bowl '77 in the role of player-coach, and later consolidated his credentials as a coach with the Sounders (1977-80) and San Jose Earthquakes (1980-82). Sadly, Gabriel passed away in 2021 at the age of 80.

 

NASL Merchandise: San Jose Earthquakes bumper sticker



NASL Legends: Buzz Demling and Mark Demling



Happy 66th birthday to U.S. international Rudy Glenn (number 10), the blue-collar midfielder who reached 2 NCAA finals at Indiana University and was taken 15th overall by the Chicago Sting in the 1980 NASL Draft, then went on to score 15 goals in 131 career NASL games with the Sting (1980-82, 1984) and Team America (1983), winning Soccer Bowl titles in 1981 -- where he scored the decisive kick in the shootout -- and 1984, and played 3 MISL seasons with Chicago in 1982-83 and 1984-86.





NASL Legends: Terry Fisher and Neil Cohen





Soccer in the 1970s: The New York Cosmos set a defensive wall of Vito Dimitrijevic, Pelé and Terry Garbett against a free kick from Rodney Marsh and the Tampa Bay Rowdies at Tampa Stadium.



MISL Memories: The New York Arrows were indeed Number 1 again after beating the Houston Summit in the 1980 MISL Championship Series - yet they still had 2 more consecutive MISL title to come.…



NASL Dateline: On 13 October 1977, the Tampa Bay Rowdies fielded a line-up with guest players Rick Davis and Kyle Rote Jr. and returned coach John Boyle to active duty but still came up short in a 2-1 loss to the Chinese National Team before 14,675 at Tampa Stadium.



NASL Dateline: On 13 October 1982, the Edmonton Drillers folded after a rocky 4-year existence highlighted by winning the 1980 Western Division title and the 1981 NASL Indoor championship and showcasing top talents like Kai Kaaskivi, Jan Goossens, Dwight Lodewedges and Peter Nogly - not to mention coach Timo Liekoski - but also undercut by poor attendance and the indifference of owner Peter Pocklington, who threatened to terminate the team at mid-season in 1982 if the players didn't take a 50 percent pay cut.



MISL Merchandise: St. Louis Storm program



NASL National Team: Pelé, Brazil and Eusebio

 

NASL Media Guides: San Jose Earthquakes, 1978




NASL National Team: Alan Brazil, Scotland




NASL Action: San Diego Jaws midfielder Trevor Hockey battles to get past San Jose Earthquakes midfielder Juli Veee at Spartan Stadium.






Soccer in the 1970s: New York Cosmos forward Steve Hunt takes a breather at Giants Stadium.



NASL Dateline: On 14 October 1981, player-coach Peter Lorimer delivered a goal in the 49th minute but it wasn’t enough to keep the Vancouver Whitecaps from dropping a 3-1 decision to Napoli before 12,500 in Italy, the 3rd game of Vancouver's 2-week European tour.



NASL Dateline: On 14 October 1976, the San Diego Jaws franchise was born when San Jose car dealer Ken Keegan bought the embattled Baltimore Comets and relocated the team 3,000 miles west to the Aztec Bowl at San Diego State University. Named after the hit Universal Pictures film from the previous summer, "Jaws," the soccer team flopped on the field, finishing 9-15 and leaving after one season to try their luck in Las Vegas as the Quicksilvers.…






Soccer in the 1970s: Defender Alan Merrick appeared in 103 regular season games for the Minnesota Kicks from 1976-79 - in addition to 7 playoff games.…







NASL Action: Fort Lauderdale Strikers forwards Clive Walker and Gerd Müller double-team Minnesota Kicks midfielder Mike McLenaghen at Metropolitan Stadium.…

 

Tampa Bay Rowdies defender Alex Pringle works San Jose Earthquakes forward Paul Child into the corner in NASL Indoor play at the Bayfront Center.



NASL Legends: David Irving



Soccer in the 1970s: Vancouver Whitecaps captain Bruce Wilson meets with his New York Cosmos counterpart, Werner Roth, along with referee Tom Reynolds and linemen Bob Allen and Bill Millar prior to kick-off at Empire Stadium.



The NASL undoubtedly produced some of the most inventive and iconic shirt designs in soccer history.…


NASL Dateline: On 29 October 1978, NASL Commissioner Phil Woosnam announced that the league would mount its own indoor season for 1978-79, spurred on by the looming threats of the start-up MISL and SSL circuits that would create competition for players, markets, arenas, and fans. The NASL Indoor season would begin in December, and 18 of the NASL's 24 franchises had agreed to participate. "If the U.S. is to emerge as a world soccer power, provision must be made for players to have approximately 60 games a year to compete with the experience being gained by players overseas," Woosnam stated. "Six-a-side soccer as a supplemental program is an ideal way to develop our young players." That said, the NASL ultimately delayed its indoor league until the 1979-80 season.



NASL Dateline: On 28 October 1982, the NASL held a dispersal player draft following the termination of the Portland Timbers franchise one week earlier, with Young Jeung Cho (Chicago Sting), John Bain (Seattle Sounders), Bill Irwin and Derek Sanderson (Golden Bay Earthquakes) and Greg Ion, Dale Mitchell and Bruce Gant (Montreal Manic) getting selected.…




NASL Action: New York Cosmos forward Giorgio Chinaglia and midfielder Franz Beckenbauer and Tampa Bay Rowdies defender Mike Connell and midfielder Graham Paddon follow the action at Giants Stadium.…



NASL Dateline: On 28 October 1982, Johan Neeskens and Vladislav Bogicevic scored 1st-half goals to carry the New York Cosmos to a 2-1 win over the South Korean National Team before 30,000 in Jeung Ju, the 3rd straight win in the Cosmos' 6-game post-season tour of Asia and Australia.

 

NASL LA Aztecs v San Jose game




NASL Fans: San Jose Earthquakes











Happy 80th birthday to England international "King" Kevin Hector, the prolific goalscorer whose 147 tallies in 12 seasons at Derby County made him a local legend and helped the Rams to 2 English league titles and semifinal runs in the European Cup, the FA Cup and the English League Cup, then signed with the Vancouver Whitecaps in 1978 and scored 39 goals in 63 games over the next 3 years, leading Vancouver to the Soccer Bowl '79 title and all-NASL honors in 1978.




Happy 64th birthday to defender Barney Boyce, the St. Louis native who was playing overseas in Yugoslavia when the Washington Diplomats signed him in 1980 at the age of 18, leading to a 5-year pro career that included 44 NASL games with the Dips (1980), Montreal Manic (1981), and San Jose / Golden Bay Earthquakes (1982-84), along with 2 MISL stints with the Kansas City Comets (1981-82) and the Earthquakes (1982-83).



So sad to report that Trevor Whymark, the England international whose 2 goals in Soccer Bowl '79 delivered the Vancouver Whitecaps their greatest triumph, passed away this week after an extended battle with Alzheimer's disease. He was 74. Whymark became a legend at Ipswich Town, scoring 75 goals in 10 seasons and helping the team win the 1978 FA Cup. He then jumped to North America in 1979 and was as good as advertised, scoring 25 goals in 57 regular season matches and accounting for all of the scoring in the Whitecaps' 2-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rowdies in the 1979 final at Giants Stadium.




Happy 68th birthday to Mike Connell (number 6), the lanky South African defender who spent his entire NASL career with the Tampa Bay Rowdies (1975, 1977-84), becoming a Fannie favorite while making 252 appearances -- 3rd-most in NASL history -- and earning the nickname "Iron Mike" by playing in an NASL-record 179 consecutive games while helping the Rowdies win Soccer Bowl '75 and reach the Soccer Bowl final in 1978 and 1979, winning the 1980 NASL Indoor title and the 1983 NASL Grand Prix of Soccer championship, earning 3 all-NASL selections and serving as captain of the Rowdies from 1981-84.






So sad to report the death of Peter Wall, the rangy English fullback who shone for Liverpool, Leyton Orient and Crystal Palace, but who also found success as a player-coach in North America. He was 80. Wall (number 4) debuted as a 19-year old with Shrewsbury Town in 1963, then made 258 appearances - including 177 for Crystal Palace - over the next 14 years, then joined the NASL in 1977 and signed with the St. Louis Stars and followed the club a year later to Anaheim. Wall scored 3 goals in 92 games over 4 seasons and serving as player-coach of the California Surf from 1979-80, then turned to indoor soccer and spent 5 seasons as head coach of the Los Angeles Lazers, leading the team to 2 playoff berths and winning the MISL Coach of the Year Award in 1985.

 

1970s Soccer USA NASL Legends:

Glenn Myernick (with Bruce Arena)

 

NASL Legends: David Dufty and Momcilo "Gabbo" Gavric



NASL Fans: San Jose Earthquakes





NASL Memories: John Carbray was a veteran West Coast minor league baseball executive who turned his Barnum-esque promotional skills to soccer in 1975 and revolutionized American sports. Born on 9 November 1938, Carbray (pictured at far left) was hired by the San Jose Earthquakes in 1975 -- and immediately recorded an average attendance of 19,292 in a stadium that held 18,099, adding painted fields and crazy mascots along the way -- then joined the Washington Diplomats in late 1976 and quickly established that franchise as an East Coast rival to the New York Cosmos. Carbray moved the team to RFK Stadium, hired Gordon Bradley as coach, broadcast home games on local TV, re-designed the team's uniforms, nearly tripled attendance, and tweaked the team's nickname. Said Carbray: "It's easier to yell, 'Go Dips' as opposed to 'Go Diplomats'." Sadly, Carbray passed away in 2019 after a lengthy battle with Alzheimer's disease. He was 80.






Happy 70th birthday to Canada international Robert Iarusci (number 2), the solid-rock defender who is one of only 2 players to win 4 Soccer Bowl titles while scoring 13 goals in 217 NASL appearances with Toronto Metros-Croatia (1976-77), the New York Cosmos (1977-78, 1981-83), Washington Diplomats (1979-80) and San Diego Sockers (1984), earning all-NASL honors in 1981 and being elected to the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame as part of the inaugural class in 2000 and named to the all-time Canadian XI in 2004









NASL Action: Golden Bay Earthquakes defender Mike Hunter goes shoulder-to-shoulder with Vancouver Whitecaps forward Carl Valentine at B.C. Place.…



MISL Art: Steve Zungul







NASL Memories: Gerd Müller was nicknamed "Der Bomber" for his powerful shot and clinical finishing that helped West Germany win the 1974 FIFA World Cup and led both Bayern Munich and the Fort Lauderdale Strikers to club success. Born on 3 November 1945, Müller was a stocky, surprisingly speedy striker who scored 68 international goals - and had his own line of Adidas boots - and captured 4 Bundesliga titles, 3 European Cups and 1 Cup Winners' Cup with Bayern Munich. He transferred to the Fort Lauderdale Strikers in 1979 and scored 38 goals in 3 NASL seasons, earning all-NASL honors in 1979 and helping the Strikers reach the Soccer Bowl '80 final. Sadly, Müller died in 2021 after a long battle with dementia at the age of 75.

 

Former captain Wall dies aged 80

Crystal Palace mourn loss of Peter Wall - News - Crystal Palace F.C.

 

Paul Child on the left and I think it's John Smillie on the right.

 

Happy 78th birthday to West Germany international Bernd "Bernie" Gersdorff, the dependable midfielder who followed up a 14-year career with Bundesliga clubs like Bayern Munich, Eintracht Braunschweig, Hertha Berlin and Tennis Borussia Berlin by jumping to the NASL in 1979, where he notched 16 goals and 7 assists in 2 seasons with the San Jose Earthquakes (1979-80) and San Diego Sockers (1980) - and made headlines during a game at Spartan Stadium in 1979 when he noticed the referee had dropped his yellow card, so Gersdorff picked it up and yellow carded the referee instead.







The German Tom Selleck




It is worth mentioning that he became head of communications and spokesperson of a large listed German company (Salzgitter AG; approx. 25,000 employees) after his soccer career.

 

Gersdorff in the inaugural Heritage Cup poster, circa 2009.