Earthquakes History - NASL Style!

Yep! You want a medal?

 

The only Italian born player to ever play for either the NASL or the MLS Quakes :
Antonio Cesterollo

A Serie C player who unfortunately only played for the Quakes in preseason in 1979. I believe he was injured all year or never signed but the game I saw him play at PAL stadium, I believe he scored an assist on a Paul Child goal and may have scored also.
After the match my uncle asked him in Italian if he would remian with the Quakes and he said;
"I tinnnkkeeeee sooo! (I think so) and I never herd from him again.

 

1975

 

Remember when the jerseys had everyone's first name on the back?

 

I remember in San Jose GM John Carbray had them paint a soccer ball in the center circle and painted the pk boxes black & red. It was funny seeing all the players running around with paint on their faces and shirts.....I remember a show in the SF Bay Area on chnl 20 called Soccer Report and they had an aerial view of a packed Spartan Stadium and it was real cool seeing the painted pitch.

 

A tribute to GM Johhny Moore

 

Carbray will tell the story about how they first painted the pitch with actual paint and they killed the grass. It was a very big deal because that was the first year after SJS had resurfaced the field. In 1974 and 1975, the Quakes probably played on the worst home pitch in the league....it was very bad.

In 1975, the home opener was against the LA Aztecs, whose general manager was a former San Jose sportscaster (channel 11), John Chaffetz. The stadium lights were still the old fashioned incandescent light bulbs and about half of them were burned out (I think the deal was that someone forgot to check the lights before they turned them on for the game). Even when all the lights were on, it was too dark for videotape, so there are no existing videotapes of night games in 1974 or 1975 (some film does exist). The field was in absolutely terrible condition. Chaffetz at first would not allow the Aztecs to take the field. Finally, they did and the game was one of those very rough games that were common in the NASL. The teams sat on opposite sides of the field, under an overhang that stuck out at about the half line. The game went into overtime and I remember Krazy George standing on top of the Aztecs overhang banging his drum, leading the crowd in "Kill! Kill! Kill" (I believe they asked him to refrain from that one very soon after this game). In the end, one of the Aztec players threw water at Krazy and he grabbed a beer and threw it the Aztecs......ah, the good old days.

In '76, Carbray became the Quakes GM and he had the field painted, using real latex paint. San Jose State had re-sodded the field prior to the soccer season and the paint quickly killed the grass. Later in the year, they found some food coloring that worked without killing the grass.

 

From my friend Ron in the other thread....
The wee one once again! I believe this is in 1976....I was there...

 

this is from '75, based on Johnny's uniform and the fact that that looks a lot like Mark Liveric (who played for cosmos that year but for us in 76) is standing behind him.

 

I was thinkingthat also.I remember the Quakes played the Cosmos in 76 at spartan and I remember Pele losing the ball as Kemp, Rowlands & Calloway marked him hard. Liveric came in 76 along with Julie Vee so you may be right. I see the logo and thought it was different in 1975....

I always thought that logo came in 1976...

But I guess Quakes 1976 was different..

 

I believe it was an exhibition match in late August as both teams were eliminated from the playoffs.

 

Indeed it was after the regular season, at least for the two teams. Jimmy Gabriel, of the Seattle Sounders, played in the midfield (I think) for the Quakes. I seem to remember Ken Cooper of the Dallas Tornado playing in goal, but I am not sure if it was for the Quakes or the Cosmos. The EQ regular keeper, Mike Ivanow had been nursing a bad leg for much of the regular season, so I think Cooper was tending the EQ goal.

It was a very exciting game, and given the poor season, a very pleasurable end to it, after some great disappointments. Art Welch pretty much hitched a ride on Pele, with some help from Kempie and others. I think everyone, spectators and players, had a great time in San Jose that night.

In all of the years that I attended Quakes games, that was one of two that I watched from the east side. Because we had friends who wanted to go with us, we exchanged our two season tickets for east side seats so we could sit with our friends.

 

I wonder if that was when Mike Ivanow was put in jail? I'm not sure why but I think it was fraud or non payment of taxes or somthing. Anyway, Mike Hewitt (Mr San Jose)came the next year in 76.

 

Yes, I understand that it is the same Mike Ivanow. The 1975 "Soccer Bowl" (the first such event wasn't it?) was played at Spartan Stadium, Timbers vs. Rowdies. Hewitt was on the bench for Tampa (I believe Paul Hammond was the starter), so the Quakes got him for 1976, and he certainly made a name for himself in the area.

 

embezzlement, but that was a few years after 76.

 

1976 was the last year that Ivanow played in goal for the outdoor team, to be replaced by Hewitt during that year. He returned for a few indoor games in early 1982 when Milan Mandaric operated the team on very low budget for the final part of the indoor season (just a few weeks before the team was sold to Carl Berg). Jimmy Gabriel was the coach and Ilija Mitic was his assistant. Both suited up for the same games (George Best was gone by then). I am sure they picked Ivanow virtually off the street, as he was not employed at the time, having "retired" from the Sounders at the end of the '81 outdoor season. His brief stint in 1982 is not even in the Wikipedia bio.

 

I keep getting that deal confused with the deal for Leo Cuellar. Who did we give up for Leo the Lion?

 

We got him from a Mexican team....I believe he was on the Sockers in 1980 along with Hugo Sanchez but not in 1981.

 

I was wrong actually !
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo_Cuéllar
UNAM México 1972-79
San Diego Sockers Estados Unidos 1979-81
Atletas Campesinos México 1981-82
San José Earthquakes Estados Unidos 1983-85

 

Under the circumstances, with everyone and everything SJSU persona non grata, not so much. I wonder if anyone realizes that hating everything SJSU athletics is and stands for means they spread that to me as well? Not as if it matters...

 

i seem to recall him playing for us in 82, and an NASL site says he did also (http://home.att.net/~nasl/nasl.htm).

but i can't remember how we got him.

 

I remember going to his first match against the Sockers at Spartan...I want to say a 2-0 loss but can't remember..