Charlie McCully Former Cosmos Player RIP I'm not sure if this has been posted before, but I came across it the other day. Charles Findlay McCully, 60, of Morton Rd., Meriden, died, Tuesday, October 23, 2007. He was the beloved husband of Rebecca L. McCreath McCully. He was born in Motherwell, Scotland, April 30, 1947, a son of the late John and Annie Mair McCully, he had been a resident of Meriden and Wallingford for many years, and was employed by P & M Mason Contractors in Plainville. He was a member of the AF & AM Walnut Hill Lodge #139 of New Britain, and was well known as a professional soccer player who had played for the U.S. National Team, and was inducted into the CT Soccer Hall of Fame. Besides his wife Rebecca, he is survived by his daughter, Michelle Ann McCully of Meriden; his two sisters, Christine Morris and her husband Cyril of Manhasset, NY, and Ina Graham and her husband Victor of Motherwell, Scotland; his four brothers, Henry McCully and his wife Betsy of Wallingford, Peter McCully, Alexander McCully and his wife Bernadette, and William McCully, and his wife Elizabeth, all of Scotland; his sister-in-law, Helen Coulter of Wallingford; his brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Robert and Isabelle Martin of Wallingford; and several nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his sister Annie Grassia and his brother John McCully.
Charles “Charlie” McCully (April 30, 1947 in Motherwell, Scotland – October 23, 2007 in Meriden, Connecticut) was a U.S.-Scottish soccer forward. He spent two seasons in the American Soccer League, one in the German American Soccer League and five in the North American Soccer League. He also earned eleven caps with the U.S. national team between 1973 and 1975. Professional career McCully played two season in the American Soccer League. In 1968, McCully signed with the Boston Beacons of the North American Soccer League (NASL). The Beacons folded at the end of the season and McCully moved to the German American Soccer League for the next two seasons. In 1971, the expansion New York Cosmos signed McCully. He played twenty-four games, scoring six goals in 1971. The next season, he played in only seven games and scored no goals before leaving the NASL. In 1975, McCully returned to the NASL with the Hartford Bicentennials. In 1976, Hartford traded him to the Washington Diplomats. He retired at the end of the season. McCully was regarded as someone with a nose for the goal, and a player with eyes in the back of his head (he was extremely aware of every man's position on the pitch). Charlie was also regarded as a great teacher of the game. He always had time to talk and mentor the younger players. He was a very giving person. National team McCully earned eleven caps with the U.S. national team between 1973 and 1975. His first game with the national team came in a 1-0 win over Poland on August 12, 1973. His last game was a 2-0 loss to Mexico on August 25, 1975 in the Mexico Cup. In 1999, McCully was inducted into the Connecticut Soccer Hall of Fame. Memorial site R.I.P.
Hello, I'm the daughter of Frank Donlavey and have all the info you are looking for, message me if your still interested! M
Cool...these are the only 2 pics I could find with your dad.... here he is against San Jose Spartan Stadium with Paul Child and Ilijia Mitic in the background....it looks like 1975/76 but I think yourd ad got there before Pele did but those uniforms were in 75/76 and I think this is the exhibition played in San Jose when Pele came in 1975......
On a sad note, Frank Donlavey passed away yesterday. He was my coach for a few years with the Canadian Youth Team. RIP Frank Here is the obituary and there is a link for an online tribute. http://classifieds.hamiltonspectator.com/HOLCSApp/hs_popup1a.jsp?adId=5296994
BR: Frank Donlavy is #3, then it's Len Renery, Randy Horton, Malcolm Dawes, Gordon Bradley, Barry Mahy. FR: Harold Jarman, Germy Rivera, Jerry Sularz, Jorge Siega and Joey Fink.
It's been a while, but I think I read somewhere that Angelo Anastasio had also passed away. He was featured in an old soccer book I had, wearing what looked like a very old Cosmos jersey (big numbers (#15) on the front), from the early 70's. As an aside, and maybe England66 knows, but what was the deal with the huge numbers on the jersey fronts up until about '73? Was it for TV (odd, since the NASL was hardly ever on national TV in the early days)? I know several teams continued to have 6"-8" numbers on the front, but some of them looked as big as the numbers on the back. Just wondering.
Just a personal memory. In Northern Virginia back in the early 70's I played with Gary Ethrington on what passed for a travel team in those days. He went on to have a solid three-four seasons with the Cosmos as one of the few effective American offensive players. Truth be told he was born in England, but moved to America by age 11 or earlier. For some reason he didn't get any national team call ups, probably due to the weird USSF politics of the day. Can anyone shed light on that issue?
Sorry to contradict you but I believe Gary Etherington came to America at the age of 15 & played 7 times for the USMNT beteen 1977-1979. His last match was against the USSR. When he played for the San Jose Earthquakes he would say in his thincl British English accent that he was "sick as a pig" when the Quakes failed to make the playoffs in 1982. The year before in 1981 coach Jimmy Gabriel played him at right back even though he was a natural forward/midfielder. He scored a few goals from that position but said he would be "taken to the cleaners" at times playing on in the right back posiiton. Etherington played defense all through the 1981 season and was even in on George Bests most famous goal giving a passs off to Geroe when he made his most famous run see clip below. In 1982, when Peter Short became coach he found himself he was back in the midfield. Etherington moved once more, this time to the Minnesota Strikers for the 1984 NASL season, the last for the league as it folded at the end of the season. His son Ian Etherington went to Notre Dame and tried out across the pond. Last I herd he was with the Chivas USA but didn't hear too much. Interstingly, another former Comos player's (Don Ebert who really never played but was a top draft pick) son Eric Ebert is with the Chivas also I believe. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2HWUbFGHMU"]YouTube - George Best...best Goal Ever[/ame]
Thanks for the great info on Gary Etherington! His coming to America at 15 doesn't coincide with my memory, but it's been a hell of a long time and memory will fool you. I've got some old youth league team pictures and such from that era (somewhere) and will dig them out and see what I've got on Gary (sometime).
I had remembered a lot of it from his playing days in San Jose and the wikipedia confirmed a lot of it. I know wiki is not all that accurate but it confirms some things. I never knew he was a placekicker for his HS team in Virginia...how funny......In the Once in a Lifetime film they showed him in a flash and he looked like a little kind. Considering he was 20 years old in 1978, I guess he still would have been kind of young looking...
Thanks for the photo. If he was 20 in '78 though, I'm almost certain he didn't come to America at 15. He was playing in Northern Va earlier than that. Just guessing, but I wonder if he euroed up his resume a bit.
Not sure but listening to him, he totally had an accent.....most kids who come over at a younger age than 12 usually aquire an American accent.... Either way, he was a good player. It was too bad the NASL folded when it did but I think he went on to play indoor if I'm not mistaken with the Minnesota Strikers for another 4 years I believe, so that was good for him. .
fairfax4dc, We may know each other...I was doing a google search on Gary E. after seeing the Cosmos documentary the other night on TV and found this forum, so I thought I'd sign up so that I could respond to this thread. I played for Annandale Boys Club travel in the late-60's thru early 70's and also for Braddock Rd BC travel teams. I played four years of varsity soccer at Woodson HS, and graduated in '76. While I didn't play on the great Annandale BC team that won the NA tourney that Gary was on (I couldn't get enough PT on that team, so I moved over to Braddock Rd BC!) a lot of my best friends and HS teammates were on that team. My memories of Gary were hellish, since he was always on the competition, but I do recall that he ran a 4.4 40yd dash and rumor was that he was an excellent golfer! When we played against Mt. Vernon HS (his team) we put our fastest and most fit player to shadow Gary the whole game (David Philips, where are you?). The quality of youth play was excellent back then (although squads weren't too deep) but Gary really was head and shoulders above everyone else. And he was a nice guy, always played fair, no drama. When he got drafted out of HS, we all thought that was the coolest thing ever! He was a local hero to all of us soccer outcasts, and to be going to the same team with Pele was just mind-blowing. Thanks for letting me share. After three ACL surgeries, I'm not as fast as I used to be, but the mind still works now and then. Pat Kelly Richmond, VA
Coming up on 34 years..... 6-15-75 NASL Tornados @ Cosmos Pele's debut [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmeiedCGjl4"]YouTube - 6-15-75 NASL Tornados @ Cosmos Pele's debut[/ame]
I remember watching that game from the house of a friend of my parents. My parents had this maddening knack of changing course in the middle of the stream, and for some reason just had to go by these people's house on the way home from my grandmother's, knowing full well that I had my heart set on watching this game (but hey, when you're only 11, what can you do? ). I'm just glad his friend and his wife were understanding and nice enough to let me watch the game on their TV.
Wow, it's been great to read all the posts about some of our former greats! The old pics are really nice to see as well (the days of glory for many with their long hair and sideburns). I was really attracted to this post because my godfather, Charlie McCully (RIP) used to play on the Cosmos (early 70's); and his brother Henry did as well. I was wondering if anyone had any pics with him in it? I'm trying to find some additional photos for a book I'm putting together and I'd like to show it to his wife Betty. Any help would be much appreciated! Thanks.
Is he the guy who on Once In A Lifetime said he would rather cover the NY Cosmos instead of the NY Yankees?
No, that was Phil Mushnick from the NY Post. Hirshey was from the NY Daily News and Yannis was from the NY Times.