Earthquakes history -- NASL style!, Part 2

Mike Hewitt NASL Indoor, 1981-82.

 

MLS should consider putting a team here....

 

No, they shouldn't.

 

NASL Ticket Stubs: Hartford Bicentennials at Philadelphia Atoms, 1976

 

MISL Action: East forward Steve Zungul (New York Arrows) kicks a souvenir ball into the crowd prior to the 1981 MISL All Star Game in New York

 

Happy 70th birthday to Des Backos (number 6), the South African forward who played virtually all of his 21-year career with domestic clubs like Johannesburg Rangers, Highlands Park and Hellenic, but joined the Los Angeles Aztecs for the 1976 NASL season and contributed 3 goals and 5 assists in 20 games.

 

I actually may have overstated about MLS expanding into Hawaii.

It would probably be a disastrous idea in the long run but it would be kind of cool for a while.....


Of course it will never happen ...






On the other hand, the Las Vegas Quicksilvers may be more realistic.....








Our own midfielder , Chris Dangerfield played there going shoulder with New York Cosmos forward Pelé at Sam Boyd Stadium.

 

Soccer world loses Tony Waiters, 83, who led Canadian men ...

Sad to report that Tony Waiters, the England international and goalkeeper coach who led the Vancouver Whitecaps to victory in Soccer Bowl '79 and later managed Canada's greatest moments at the 1984 Olympic Games and the 1986 FIFA World Cup, passed away this week. He was 83. Waiter made more than 250 appearances for Blackpool and challenged Gordon Banks for the England starting position, but retired when he was 30 and turned to coaching. Waiters was hired to coach the Whitecaps in 1977 and captured the NASL's Coach of the Year Award a year later, then won it all in 1979 and was greeted by 100,000 fans back home in Vancouver. Waiters took over the Canadian National Team in 1982 and got his side to the quarterfinals of the '84 Olympic Games -- only losing to Brazil on penalty kicks -- and Canada's first-ever berth in the 1986 World Cup was the culmination of nearly a decade of development. Waiters was elected to the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame in 2001 and was honoured as a Canada Soccer Life Member in 2019.

 

Happy 72nd birthday to Bozidar Ban (number 18), the Croatian forward who played in France and Belgium, then who scored 3 goals in 25 games for the Oakland Stompers in 1978 and signed for the Edmonton Drillers in 1979.

 

Sort of a funny story, Bernie Gersdorff once declared me to be "the king of soccer". I am not making this up. In 1979, I spent part of my work vacation traveling around with the Quakes. I went to Tampa and Ft. Lauderdale on one road trip (I actually met up with them in Ft. Lauderdale, after visiting my family near Tampa taking them to the game in Tampa...always thankful to Obie for getting all the tickets for that one), to Portland on another, plus to Chicago and New York on another. I flew on the plane with the team to all games except to Tampa and Ft. Lauderdale (because I was visiting family on that part of that trip). I stayed at the same hotels, boarded the planes with them (pre-boarded in all cases because of the group size), rode the team buses with them...everything except team meals and team meetings.

We had arrived in Chicago, flying from San Jose to O'Hare on American Airlines. The team stayed at what was then the brand new Holiday Inn Hotel in downtown Chicago (the game was at Soldier Field). It was not all that unusual for some of the players to be tossing around one of the deflated practice balls that were carried in the net bags that were often inside the team bus. As we were exiting the bus at the Holiday Inn, Bernie walked past me (I was just standing up from my seat on the bus) and he had one of the deflated balls. He put it on my head and declared "Aha! The king of soccer" in his usual louder than normal voice. Always wished people had smart phones in those days...there would likely be a video of it somewhere...but it's only in my head, as I am sure Bernd Gersdorff doesn't remember it happening.

I have to add another story about something that happened on one of those trips. We were in Ft. Lauderdale. It was the day before the game (which was a Sunday night gig, so it would have been Saturday). The team always had a brief workout at the visiting team's ballpark on the day prior to the game, just so they would have some familiarity with the pitch. Peter Stubbe was the coach by this time in 1979, so about all the workout consisted of was a short "shirts vs. skins" scrimmage. We arrive at Lockhart Stadium and it is locked up tighter than a prison. No one there to let us in. At that time, Lockhart was just a glorified high school stadium with metal framed, wooden bleachers around the playing surface and a chain link fence to keep people out. The gates were all padlocked. Everyone scaled the chain link fence...in other words, we "broke in" to the place. No one, including the cops, ever showed up, so we had to also "break out" too.

 

I'm not sure as I was very young but I think this is the second Quakes game I ever attended...

 

Happy 62nd birthday to U.S. international Rick Davis (pictured at center), the best and most famous player of his generation and the first American star of the New York Cosmos, who turned pro at 19 and went on to score 15 goals in 129 career appearances with New York, winning Soccer Bowl titles in 1978, 1980 and 1982, earning the North American Player of the Year Award in 1979 and gaining all-NASL honors in 1983, then jumping to MISL and enjoying another 7 years of success, reaching the MISL finals in 1984 with the St. Louis Steamers and making 2 MISL All Star Teams, while also making 35 appearances with the U.S. National Team and playing in the 1984 and 1988 Olympic Games.

 

RIP DIEGO!

 

NASL Subbuteo: San Jose Earthquakes

 

PAOLO ROSSI IN A BUFFALO STALLIONS SHIRT: 1980 while under suspension, Paolo Rossi was for a very short stint with the Buffalo Stallions along with Pat Occhiuto and Jimmy Sinclair who sent this picture to me. Adolfo Gori is the other gentleman on this picture. Pat Ercoli was also with the Stallions that year, as was Buffalo scout Carlo Del Monte.

Paolo Rossi and Pat Occhiuto after the Buffalo Stallions exhibition game in 1980. Adolfo Gori is at the far left. (Photo courtesy of Pat Occhiuto)

 

GOODBYE, TOMMY: Ord, former NASL player ...

 

Tommy Ord scored the only goal against the Cosmos in Seattle's 2-1 loss in Soccer Bowl 77'.