8-14-1978 Greatest soccer game played at the Met. 52 seconds into the game Charlie George knocked the Cosmos keeper (Yashin?) while scoring the first goal. I'm sure there were over 45000 fans there that night. I was somewhere right above #23s head that night. Section 15 or 17, about 15 rows up. http://www.startribune.com/blogs/oldnews/?p=18 The Kicks were a great franchise, always fun to watch. Ace, Alan Willey, Ron Futcher, Steve Litt (who seemed huge at 6 foot, 185 lbs) Volkmar Gross, Alan Merrick, Ian "Chico" Hamilton, Alan West. We had season tickets every season (even indoor) so we saw a lot of soccer in those 6 years. Ive got some snap shots from Picture day the first season. Some of the guys were great (Litt especially) but others... Maybe MLS should adopt the system of 6 points for a win and a point for each goal up to three (win or lose).
I tell ya for such a shortlived league, they sure made quite an impact on the American public. Its nice to see some of my pics revived in the new thread, here are some more.
Then in 1978 Milan Mandaric bought them and moved the club to Oakland and they became the Oakland Stompers: & then this guy was in goal:
Then they became the Edmonton Drillers Trying to remember all the americans on the Kicks. Tino Lettieri was a Canuck, but he counted as a North American. Sam Bick - Quincy College Greg Villa - UI Edwardsville Mike Flater - Col. School of Mines Ade Coker (I hated that he was traded to San Diego) - naturalized Smith Eggleston (3rd string keeper in '76) - St. Thomas Nick Owcharuk -Western Illinois University Doug Brooks -Florissant Valley Community College Tom Howe, Tim Twellman, Mark Moran- SIU Jeff Solem - Emory University Peter Short - from England but naturalized in 1976
Where Are They Now: Chance Fry He rarely sat, but has since mastered that http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/othersports/334875_where10.html
I later played for the same college as he did. By "played" of course I mean "practiced with" and "sat on the bench for." Great post. Permit me a wee bit of nitpicking: There is no "UI Edwardsville" That is actually "Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville," which is also the campus of the "SIU" where Howe, Twellman, and Moran played. (the main SIU in Carbondale had club soccer in the 70s and 80s -- If SIU Carbondale ever went varsity, it was after I left the state).
And who can forget the greatest NASL jersey of all time. Have the Rapids ever honored the Caribou by wearing a jersey with that leather fringe?
I think its difficult to honor a team that was only in town 1 year, 1978. I believe the next year they moved toAtlanta to become the Chiefs.
Thanks for the clarification. I was going by what little info I could find in my book about the Kicks and the interweb.
Hehe thanks. I know the Hartford team wasn't very good and only here for two years, but I still haven't really seen pictures of them or their games. No idea what those games were like.