NASL Museums: San Jose Earthquakes jerseys and memorabilia on display at the History Park Museum in San Jose.
NASL Legends: Jimmy McAlister, Pepe Fernandez, Jeff Stock, John Best, Jimmy Gabriel, Dave Gillett and Tommy Jenkins
NASL Legends: George Best and Brian Kidd (with Bobby Charlton) NASL Headlines: Soccer America, 1981 MISL Action: Buffalo Stallions midfielder Joe Horvath gets stuck in against New York Arrows defender Doug Pollard.
NASL Action: Las Vegas Quicksilvers midfielder Chris Dangerfield goes shoulder to shoulder with New York Cosmos forward Pelé at Sam Boyd Stadium.
That 1979 team arguably ranks behind only the 2018 season as the most disappointing team in the history of the SJ Earthquakes. It was a complete underachievement, as the group consisted of some very good, experienced players. The problem was that while there were several individually good players, there was no leadership from a coaching standpoint. Terry Fisher was the initial coach, but these players had little respect for him because he was an American. Peter Stubbe was the agent who brought them all to the Quakes and as part of his compensation, he was given a position in the organization. After Fisher was fired, Stubbe was given the responsibility of coach. He was not a coach, he was a player agent. I spent a lot of time with this group on the road...they had fun, but it was more of a vacation for some of them. The team included some very good people, Versen, Bernie Gersdorf, Gunter Etterich, Willi Cryns, Volker Fass (traded to The Stompers for re-aquiring John Rowlands about 2/3 of the way thru the season), Paul Child, etc. It should have been a much better season.
Great post! The year of the Germans in 1979 was a lot of fun. Bernie Gersdorf was a great forward. The team were a lot better than the team was in 78 and very competitive but couldn’t win. Ironically they ended up with an identical 8 win and 22 loss that the 78 team did. In some ways, the 78 team may have gained more confidence and played better initially as they lost their first three games and five overall by the shootout while the 79 squad only lost twice by the tiebreaker... The only thing I would contradict from your post was Volker Fass was traded to The Stompers for John Rowlands in 1978 not 79. Milan Mandaric sold the team to Peter Pocklington who relocated the team from Oakland to Edmonton Alberta and they were known as the Drillers.
My memory seems to get worse all the time. I actually edited my post to add the Volker Fass / John Rowlands trade, so I guess my initial memory of things was correct and my addition of that tidbit was just me fooling myself.
Interesting how Volker Fass used his time as a player to become an orthopedic surgeon. Ihr Orthopäde in Freiburg - Dr. Volker Fass Orthozentrum ...
He was a decent player and had a good career in Germany. However, most reports were that he was not happy with his situation during his short stay in the US. He did not perform well in the NASL. It would not surprise me to learn that some agent talked him into the loan agreements more as vacation than as a serious work commitment.