Spectacular, must-read article on ESPN.com about David Vanole. Personally, I'm a bit of a newbie in the Soccerfan ranks - didn't even start watching the game until we qualified in '90 - so I knew nothing about this guy whatsoever. But wow. Between the stories told about him in this article by his friends and teammates, and the kind of goalkeeper he was, one would think he'd have a Ruthian presence in US Soccer lore. But when I went to Oneonta last summer, I got a good shot of Caliguri's cleats, but saw nothing whatsoever on Vanole. Assuming this article is accurate (and I have no reason to believe it isn't), that's a huge oversight on US Soccer's part. Here's the article. Enjoy.
This is a great article about a great player, but I don't see the huge oversight here. First, US Soccer does not decide who is to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame (which still exists, despite the closing of its museum) does. The Hall of Fame switched in 1999 from an eligibility system based on nominations by state associations to an eligibility system based on objective measures of a player's accomplishments. The first election held under this system was in 2000. David Vanole was eligible that year and has been every year since (with the exception of 2003, when the election was limited to NASL players). Since 2004, he has been on the veteran's eligibility list. I don't think any one person can be said to be responsible for the United States' qualifying for the 1990 World Cup. There were other good saves in that qualifying series, particularly by Tony Meola to preserve a 0-0 tie in Guatemala. In addition to the famous goal by Paul Caligiuri against Trinidad, Tab Ramos scored the only goal of a 1-0 win over Costa Rica, Hugo Perez scored the only goal of a 1-0 win over El Salvador, and Eric Eichmann's shot was deflected into the net for the own goal that was the deciding goal of a 2-1 win over Guatemala. Finally, the penalty that Vanole saved against Costa Rica (in the second game of an eight-game qualifying series) followed a handball by Steve Trittschuh that stopped a goal-bound Costa Rican shot. Trittschuh's move was illegal, but it did help to save the day. Qualifying for the 1990 World Cup was a team effort, not the doing of any one person.