Some 40 years ago, while at the University Book Store, I crossed paths with a book like none other. After consuming many a book about soccer tactics, skills and history, The Soccer Tribe was about the game’s rituals, its participants and its followers. Written by noted British zoologist Dr. Desmond Morris, it studied human beings through the footy lens.
The Soccer Tribe took a macro approach to observing people who surround the game. In Soccer Stories of Old Seattle and Around the World, it is a more nuanced, micro examination by author and Seattle native Phil Davis and co-contributor Bob Smith.
From July 23 through July 27, 2024, electronic copies of Soccer Stories of Old Seattle and Around the World will be available free of charge from Amazon. Davis asks that in lieu of a payment during that period, readers consider making a donation to Washington State Legends of Soccer, either for its scholarship fund or ongoing initiatives.
Davis shares tales of places he’s visited, people he’s met or discovered – all at the intersection of soccer and life.
Asked about his newly published book’s message, Davis writes that in a country and world that often presents itself as deeply divided, “Friendship between different kinds of people is possible. So is world peace, or at least the end of long wars,” he added. “We practice every four years with the World Cup. All that is needed is a sporting attitude, a few rules developed by Thomas Aquinas 850 years ago, and the beautiful game.”
The Characters
His book begins with the introduction of Mike Ryan. For Davis, Ryan was the volunteer coach at St. Catherine of Siena School in Seattle’s Maple Leaf neighborhood. The Dublin-born Ryan was then a youth coach and top player in the Washington State League. He would go on to coach the Washington Huskies’ men’s varsity and women’s club, then guide five local women’s teams to national titles before becoming the first U.S. Women’s National Team head coach.
Ryan was a soccer evangelist and teacher. He loved to dance, and the marriage of the sport and his ballroom footwork was evident in his first instruction to Davis and those young boys. “Soccer is more like a dance than a home run kicking contest. Listen for the music, learn the steps and watch the older players,” Davis quotes Ryan.
Mike Ryan (left) and the 1964 Seattle CYO All-Stars. (Pep Peery)
The reader meets other characters, some admirable and some more flawed.
There’s a long-ago youth coach with a self-destructive streak, and as was too often the case in the State League, combustible confrontations between clubs of different ethnicities.
There are the immigrant farmworkers in eastern Washington who become Davis’s teammates shortly after starting his teaching career. They, too, love the game and play with grace yet faced the constant threat of deportation.
In New Mexico, there arises the issue of playing rules for a co-rec league and the short- and long-term implications.
There is Davis’s trip to the 2018 World Cup in pre-war Russia. There he would be met kindly by local strangers from Siberia and traveling supporters of Peru.
We are introduced to Marbella Ibarra. During her all too short life Ibarra advocated for women, women’s football and creating teams and a Mexican national league, Liga MX Femenil. Four months after the league final attracted over 50,000 spectators, Ibarra was murdered at the age of 46.
A generation or so after being first instructed by Ryan, Davis himself was a coach. He must deal with the pressure of parents as well as the opportunity to draw out the best in a troubled youth.
From his preface, Davis writes, “Forty years of English classes did give me an eye for what good readers deserve. Literature should make us smile, cry, argue, get angry, laugh or see the world in a new way…Good sports literature should give us a nugget to chew on, so the ensuing discussion sheds light on the human condition.”
Forty years ago, the best young players in America were choosing scholarship offers over signing bonuses. Whereas three years before there had been 33 clubs paying a living wage, by 1984 there were 21.
It was an Olympic year, and the United States would play before huge home crowds – upwards of 78,000 – in California during July. But by the fall, the number of professional teams would dwindle to 12 and none of them would play outdoors, 11-a-side. Instead, the fog and lasers and thumping soundtrack of Major Indoor Soccer League showmanship ruled the day.
“Back then, soccer was imploding all over the United States,” former Seattle Sounders coach Jimmy Gabriel said in 2007. “There was no real soccer league at that time. Everything was going in the wrong direction.”
Into this bleak landscape came a wind of change: Football Club Seattle.
Once a Sounders captain and head coach, Jimmy Gabriel conceived the FC Seattle approach to development. (Frank MacDonald Collection)
One of the First FCs
Rather than sit and stew, Gabriel got busy. He and others hatched an idea to flip the script on a foreign-dominated domestic game and convinced a new convert to fund a new enterprise. In the summer of ’84, FC Seattle would go against the flow, develop their fair share of followers and, within a year, start a new league that has since morphed into the USL.
In terms of a name, FC Seattle came from the future – and the old country. It would be 21 years until FC Dallas became the MLS Burn’s rebrand, ushering in a slew of FCs and SCs. In truth, FC Seattle had been a few senior amateur teams (two men, one women’s). It also had an over-30 league entry, featuring Gabriel, the Washington Youth Soccer coaching director, and a handful of ex-Sounders, plus Cliff McCrath, then the storied coach at Seattle Pacific. Another teammate, new to the game, was Bud Greer.
The team had entered tournaments in British Columbia and faced clubs in Vancouver and Victoria that featured FC monikers. Greer, owner of Pepsi bottling plants in New York state and also a pilot, would fly several of the players to and from their playing destination. He had also been looked upon as a possible savior to the Sounders in their flagging days of the North American Soccer League. However, when Greer’s business partner unexpectedly died, he backed out. By September 1983, the Sounders folded after 10 seasons, and the NASL was reduced to nine franchises.
Going Local
FC Seattle owner Bud Greer (left), awarding the City League championship trophy in 1985. (Frank MacDonald Collection)
Still Greer was open to investing in the sport, and Gabriel approached him with a novel concept, at least for most U.S. outposts. Instead of Americans being developed for supporting roles alongside international imports, FC Seattle’s roster would be almost exclusively comprised of local talent.
Recalled Greer in 2015, “(Jimmy) said, ‘Look, we’re seeing some pretty good players (around Washington), and it’s time we field a team of good American players.’ That was the impetus behind FC Seattle.”
It was about more than fielding a men’s team. FC Seattle would sponsor 23 youth and adult teams as well as tournaments. It also produced coaching videos and printed material.
Gabriel, the coaching director for FC Seattle, and coach Tom Jenkins already operated a senior amateur team that played both in the state premier league and U.S. Open Cup regionals. That team would be augmented by players attached to other clubs who would go through tryouts.
Gabriel, who had developed the Sounders’ reserve team program and signed several future first-team graduates like Jimmy McAlister and Mark Peterson, envisioned a broad feeder system, from youth to senior level, much like today’s Sounders development academy.
“There’s a gap between the amateur and professional levels,” he said at the time. “It’s too big of a jump from the high schools or colleges to the pros. It takes longer to adjust than the pros are allowing. We aim to fill that gap.”
FC Seattle’s inaugural roster included a mixture of current collegians (the club started as amateurs), state league stars and those seeking a second chance after their professional dreams were dashed. Among the latter was Bruce Raney, Seattle Pacific’s all-time scoring leader who was drafted by the Sounders but unable to make the final cut.
Roster Building
Of FC Seattle, Raney said, “With the pros, it was no longer fun to play. Now I’m having a good time again. The idols of my childhood, the Sounders, are gone. But FC Seattle could fill that void.”
Eddie Krueger had won a place in Gabriel’s Sounders starting lineup at the age of 19. A year later, following a coaching change, he was released. “For me, this is hopefully a steppingstone to get back into professional soccer again.”
Eddie Krueger during his Sounders stint. (Frank MacDonald Collection)
“I can’t recall what I weighed in terms of it making a good investment,” said Greer. “I do recall thinking that we really need to keep this game in town.” For the next seven years, some of them rather bumpy, he would fund what was the only team of stature in Seattle.
For hardcore fans, it was an alternative (or addition) to the indoor game in Tacoma. For players, dreams began flickering back to life.
“Knowing that we were being given another chance with professional soccer in Seattle, FC Seattle really holds a special place in my heart,” said Rick Blubaugh, then 19.
“It was the greatest thing that happened to me at the time,” noted Tad Willoughby, a Sounders draftee out of the University of Washington. “When the Sounders and NASL were folding, it kept hope alive.”
They were fearless from the first kick. And 45 seconds later, they began making believers of fans and foes alike.
If footy supporters around Puget Sound feared the Vancouver Whitecaps would wipe the Astroturf with the amateurs of Football Club Seattle, they were at least given pause when the local lads stormed in front in their inaugural match at Memorial Stadium.
Forty-five seconds into its challenge series versus Vancouver and two other NASL clubs, plus the U.S. Olympic Team, Bruce Raney bulged the west end netting. His former college coach, Cliff McCrath, climbed a railing and thrust his first in the air as fans, some yet to find their seats, screamed in delight.
Off and Running
FC Seattle was off and running. A win would come, and crowds would grow, albeit modestly, before that first season was finished. Soon after, a feeder system and league play, and a senior women’s team would be launched. Big name players would arrive, two overseas trips taken, and a trophy would be lifted.
Yet it was that belief may have been the biggest biproduct and most enduring legacy.
FC Seattle forward Bruce Raney scored the club’s first goal and, in 1985, first hat trick. (Joanie Komura/Frank MacDonald Collection)
Some nights, Raney’s thoughts return to that afternoon 40 years ago. “There couldn’t have been a better start”, he says. “We shocked them. There, in the first minute, (Vancouver) knew they had a struggle on their hands. We had a good crowd (6,000) and that got them behind us. And I didn’t hit a harder ball in my life.”
The Whitecaps would return fire, twice to take the lead. But in the 85th minute, Raney’s Seattle Pacific teammate, Doug Backous, would equalize and the exhibition would finish tied, 2-2.
In terms of Seattle being able to hold its own against professionals, it was no fluke. They would hold Minnesota scoreless for 77 minutes (but lose 3-0), hang with the five-time champion New York Cosmos (lose 2-1) and strike first against the Olympians (1-3) in their Summer Games sendoff in front of more than 8,000.
Second Chances
All that was remarkable, given their youth. Only a handful of players had been with pro clubs and reserve roles at that. Raney had been drafted by San Jose when Jimmy Gabriel was coach of the Earthquakes. He trained a few times with George Best, but then Gabriel was fired, and Raney released. He signed three six-month amateur contracts with his hometown Sounders but never got beyond warming-up for a first team preseason match.
The Seattle coaching staff was comprised of former Sounders whom the players have watched and idolized just a couple summers earlier. Gabriel was the coaching director, Tommy Jenkins the head coach and Pepe Fernandez the assistant.
After deciding to redshirt before his final season at SPU, Peter Hattrup joined FC Seattle for its first road game.
Esprit de Corps
“We were in the locker room at BC Place, and we were pretty darn young (an average age of 22, with Hattrup 20),” he recalls. “There were a lot of nerves. Pepe came walking out with the football first-down marker, with his underwear hiked up, and walked around the locker room like the ring girl for a boxing match. He was saying, ‘Let’s win this one!’ It lightened the atmosphere quite a bit and from that point on we went out and played pretty well. We held our own. We didn’t have our backs to the wall.”
Tad Willoughby scored early for the visitors. Hattrup’s flick-on led to Raney scoring the late winner, 2-1, over the Whitecaps.
There was definitely an esprit de corps ethos at the outset, if not the entirety of FC Seattle’s existence. “We all enjoyed playing together,” Hattrup said. “In the beginning it was all guys you grew up playing with on clubs, and a chance to play meaningful games against quality opposition.”
At 19, Rick Blubaugh was the squad’s sole teenager. He had been a devout Sounders fan and was now learning his craft under their guidance as coaches.
“I worshipped those guys, and they believed in me and believed in our team,” shared Blubaugh. “It was just extraordinary. On top of that the players and coaches were just great people. You wanted to bend over backwards in everything you did, to do anything for them. That’s why I have such a special place in my heart for them.”
A Fresh Approach
Being coached by pros who could call upon a deep reservoir of experience was a significant departure from club and college mentors. While the coaches didn’t coddle, they were positive and uplifting.
Eddie Henderson was a 20-year-old University of Washington junior standing 5 feet, 1 inch but blessed with amazing quickness, speed and technical ability. He had represented the U.S. at the U-17 and U-20 levels and been drafted by the Stars out of Seattle’s O’Dea High School. Still, playing time at FC Seattle was not a given.
Eddie Henderson, at 5-foot-1 and electrifyingly fast, instantly became an FC Seattle crowd favorite in 1988. (Joanie Komura/Frank MacDonald Collection)
“I was starting ahead of some really talented players,” recalled Henderson. “Tommy Jenkins (head coach) started me off and gave me so much freedom as a player, and it helped develop my confidence. He pushed us but he encouraged me.”
Henderson instantly became a favorite of the fans and effective at breaking down defenses, earning first team all-league as a rookie.
From Friendlies to Founding a League
Friendlies gave way to league play in the second season, and FC Seattle, who would tack-on the nickname Storm by 1986, would become a perennial championship contender. There would still be exhibitions with touring clubs, and Seattle would claim victories over England’s Norwich City and Middlesbrough and Brazil’s famed Santos, plus draw with Scotland’s Hearts.
The USL Championship has roots in the Western Soccer Alliance, which later evolved into the APSL, following a merger with the American Soccer League. FC Seattle had explored starting a regional league as early as 1983. But in 1985, the WSA was kickstarted virtually overnight. The deadly Heysel Stadium disaster resulted in FIFA banning all English teams from traveling outside Britain; West Brom and Aston Villa had been booked for Seattle and other West Coast stops.
The day of WSA’s formation, Seattle played the inaugural league match, at FC Portland, winning 6-1. Victoria Riptides and San Jose Earthquakes also joined. Each team also played a league-counting game vs. the Canadian National Team, which was approaching the final round of World Cup qualifying.
With the demise of the NASL in 1984, invention was born of necessity. In its second year the league would expand to southern California. With the ban lifted, Manchester City visited along with World Cup-bound Canada. The U.S. National Team, already eliminated, was also on the menu.
Name Recognition
The notion of returning home and pulling on an FC Seattle shirt became appealing. Twins Andy and Walter Schmetzer signed professional contracts straight out of high school and were joined by older brother Brian for 1985. Tacoma native Jeff Durgan, 1980 NASL Rookie of the Year and national team captain, opted to leave the Cosmos. FC Seattle was paying players, but not much.
“I made $250 per game for my first two games, against Santos and Dundee,” said Peter Fewing. “That’s why Bruce Rioch loved us; he knew we weren’t making a ton or sometimes any money.”
Brent Goulet had been 1987 U.S. Soccer Player of the Year before joining the Storm in 1989. (Joanie Komura/Frank MacDonald Collection)
More ex-Sounders became involved. Rioch, once an NASL Best XI sweeper, stayed one year as coach before returning to England to manage Middlesbrough and, later, Arsenal. Gabriel took over as coach but left after 1986 to join Harry Redknapp at Bournemouth. David Gillett served as general manager.
Among the 17 former NASL or current MISL players were Chance Fry, Fran O’Brien and Jeff Stock. In 1989, U.S. internationals Brent Goulet and Ricky Davis, were added. Both were bidding to make the 1990 World Cup team. Never mind that the Storm stopped paying players between 1986-89. The pros played for free, and the club’s amateur status enabled it to welcome youth internationals Eddie Henderson and Chris Henderson (no relation).
Fringe Benefits
In lieu of compensation, owner Bud Greer twice took the Storm to Great Britain for postseason tours. Rioch and Redknapp opened the gates of Boro and Bournemouth. QPR, Dundee and Portsmouth rounded out the first excursion. Stopovers at Sunderland, Boro and Hull highlighted second time around.
“When we went to England, that was huge,” said Jeff Koch, Storm goalkeeper from 1986-89. “You’re playing against all those teams you might’ve only heard and read about. To go over there and experience English professional soccer at a young age and realize we’re not that far off, that we can play. I would take that trip in a heartbeat over pay.”
Koch has said that the first trip was also a confidence-builder. Seven months later, when the team reunited, their poise was palpable.
The Championship
After runner-up finishes for three consecutive years, the Storm were frontrunners. They won 10 of 12 games during the regular season, defeated Middlesbrough and Mexico’s Neza in friendlies and then added an exclamation point by smashing San Jose, 5-0, in the final.
Said Hattrup: “We had been confident before, but we didn’t know if we should be confident. It confirmed that we can really play here and confirmed for us that we’re good enough to play at higher levels.”
FC Seattle players, coaches and staff pose with the 1988 Western Soccer Alliance championship trophy. (Joanie Komura/Frank MacDonald Collection)
All 13 players who saw action in the were American and had either attended high school or college in Washington.
By 1988, Hattrup had played two pro seasons with the Tacoma Stars, three with FC Seattle and played in an Open Cup final for Seattle Mitre Eagles. The WSA was still a couple years away from merging and playing a national final to culminate the season. “In ‘88 I wish there had been a final against the ASL winner,” he added, “because I think we were better than anybody we would’ve played.”
In the Storm’s final two summers, attendance bumped upward to 3,500 and several games both home and away were aired over cable television. The United States had been named host of the 1994 World Cup. However, costs and the level of competition were rising. Players were paid in 1990, when a new coaching regime headed by Clive Charles took over.
The End Is Near
FC Seattle was among the top teams but did not make the playoffs those final two years. Greer, who had been more than generous in funding the club that was professionally operated, would face even greater financial demands following the merger and formation of the APSL for 1991. He opted to mothball the club for 1991, but once the league was winnowed from 22 to nine to five teams for 1992, the plug was pulled.
“We didn’t have the prescience to come to the conclusion that things were going to blossom like they did (in 1994 and beyond),” said Greer in 2015. “If we had, we might have come to a very different decision. But when you attract a thousand people to Memorial Stadium, you just have to sit back and say, Is this really worth it? We felt we gave it everything we could.”
Within four months of FC Seattle shuttering, the Tacoma Stars also went down the tube. For the next year, there was no local activity above the college or senior amateur level.
For Some, the Pinnacle
For those who had worn the FC Seattle badge or ‘Storm’ emblazoned jersey, it was time to move along or focus on finding a new career. Some players would become involved in coaching, such as Peter Fewing at Seattle University or Bernie James at Crossfire. Others kept chasing their dream.
For those whose last league playing experience was with FC Seattle, there are fond memories.
Peter Fewing played more matches (75) and was credited for more assists (20) than any FC Seattle player. (Joanie Komura/Frank MacDonald Collection)
“Bud Greer deserves a ton of thanks and love for what he gave all of us,” said Fewing. “Bud made it first class and lost a lot of money on that deal.
“I may have been a role player,” he added, “but I played 27 games against foreign teams and national teams. I am grateful for the experience.”
Eddie Henderson, who play indoor before going into investment banking, learned a lot of life lessons. “Guys (who) were 3-4 years older took me under their wing. They helped steer me in the right direction and I embraced it; I was in the right environment.”
Blubaugh, who coaches youth in southern California, said, “I felt extremely fortunate. There were great people to be around and talk to.”
For Koch, it surpassed his dreams. “Growing up watching the Sounders, Tommy Jenkins and Jimmy Gabriel and Dave Gillett were huge; they were my favorite players. I absolutely loved it. That experience was the pinnacle.”
When the Sounders marched alumni out onto the Lumen Field pitch on June 15, among them were men who never cashed a paycheck or played for any team playing under that name. They played for Football Club Seattle, arguably the most ‘Seattle’ team ever, stocked almost entirely of local players.
Yet FC Seattle is largely unknown to the average fan. It falls through the cracks between two Sounders iterations, the NASL and A-League. It never played before a home sellout crowd. It lasted just even seasons and was semipro, paying players for only two of those years.
Had FC Seattle adopted the Sounders name, it would fit neatly into the narrative. Instead, it opted for ‘Storm,’ developed the next wave of players for critical roles in two championship teams and kept the lights on around Puget Sound when most of American pro soccer was going dark.
FC Seattle’s original crest. (Frank MacDonald Collection)
Forty years ago, in 1984, when 11v11 professional soccer was in its death throes, FC Seattle was the future. It encompassed youth development plus women’s and men’s teams. It helped usher a new league. Without it, there would be an 11-year gap in our heritage and a few less trophies to squawk about.
What’s In a Name?
Stitching together a 50-year history in North American soccer ain’t easy. The graveyard of clubs since the first coast-to-coast league is littered with names ranging from obscure (Apollos) to flavorless (Team Hawaii) to iconic (Cosmos).
FC Seattle owner Bud Greer had at one time contemplated rescuing the NASL Sounders. After it folded and his new club took shape, he chose the name of his men’s premier league side. “The Sounders was a damaged name; it didn’t have a good reputation (in 1984),” noted Greer. A nickname was added after the second season.
FC Seattle’s final logo, from 1990. (Frank MacDonald Collection)
“The Storm name was (coach) Jimmy Gabriel’s idea,” said Greer. “He had this fixation on naming teams after the weather. We had a strong women’s team called the Rain. FC Seattle served as part of the continuum from the Sounders which went away and then came back again.”
Two other MLS clubs celebrating golden anniversaries are Vancouver and San Jose. Like Seattle, there were interim brands in B.C. and the Bay Area. When Vancouver began its Canadian Soccer League era, it was as the 86ers. San Jose’s charter MLS franchise was the Clash for the first three campaigns (1996-98).
Simply the Best
A native of Bellevue, Chance Fry played for the Sounders, both NASL and A-League, and FC Seattle. Fry led the APSL West with 17 goals in 1990 and was both the Storm and league career scoring king. He also played for the Earthquakes and their Bay Area successor, the San Francisco Bay Blackhawks. The Earthquakes included the Blackhawks alumni in their anniversary activations.
While some may discount the Western Soccer League and its semipro status, the Storm and Blackhawks were fielding teams stocked with strong players. Ricky Davis and Brent Goulet were U.S. Soccer Players of the Year in 1985 and ’87, respectively. The Blackhawks featured USMNT mainstays Marcelo Balboa, John Doyle and Dominic Kinnear.
Chance Fry scored a record total of 37 goals for FC Seattle from 1987-90. (Joanie Komura/Frank MacDonald Collection)
“People talk about (the WSL) not being first division and that, but before MLS, all the players were playing in the MISL (indoor), WSL, APSL or whatever leagues were happening at the time,” said Fry. “Those were the first American MLS players, and the Blackhawks could’ve competed at the MLS level. When MLS started, the (A-League) Sounders were doing very well.”
Sounders Success Rooted in Storm
The reason the Sounders won three trophies in their first three A-League seasons must be attributed, at least in part, to FC Seattle. Although it was shuttered six years earlier, the Storm had developed key players or, at the very least, kept them from prematurely hanging up their boots.
“It bridged that timeframe when nothing was going on outdoors,” observed Peter Hattrup. “The ‘88 season (with FC Seattle) was huge for me as a player. I had just sat my ass on the bench for two years of indoor, and to come back out and play and regain some confidence and the joy of playing outdoor made a big difference.”
Fry and Hattrup won the 1988 championship with the Storm, then reunited in 1994 with Sounders. In fact, there were nine FC Seattle alumni who eventually played for the Sounders, among them Brian Schmetzer. When the Sounders claimed their first A-League championship in 1995, Wade Webber, Fry (9 goals) and Hattrup (11 goals, 8 assists) were vital contributors, with Hattrup earning league MVP.
Peter Hattrup led the Storm with six goals during their championship season in 1988. (Joanie Komura/Frank MacDonald Collection)
“I was no better in ’95 than ’88, and Chance was still scoring goals,” Hattrup attested. “If FC Seattle was the backbone of the older group of A-League Sounders, Murphy’s Pub (1993 U.S. Amateur champions) was the backbone of the young part of the Sounders, with Marcus (Hahnemann), Jason and James Dunn and Jason Farrell. That was the nucleus.”
Fry said each stop along the way prepared him for that return. “I’d been a young kid with the first Sounders, just trying to make it,” he said. “With the Storm, I was a little bit older, and everything started coming together; by 1990 I played every minute of every game (scoring 17 goals), which is pretty rare for a striker.”
Fry won an A-League title with the Blackhawks, then returned home to win two more with the Sounders.
In the NASL era, Americans were typically deployed in supporting roles. Relying on local players, FC Seattle gave the likes of Hattrup and Fry to become the go-to guys in a league which supplied seven alumni to the 1990 U.S. World Cup squad.
“We had local players playing against good caliber players in those important positions, of attacking midfielder or forward, not just outside backs and a goalkeeper” Hattrup maintained. “We were playing all the important positions. When it came time, we were already established that way.”
Hattrup is not alone in that assessment.
“The nucleus of that Sounders team was able to keep playing competitively at a high level at FC Seattle,” said Peter Fewing.
Credit Where Credit Is Due
“FC Seattle was a great vehicle to bridge the gap until the A-League Sounders emerged on the other side,” said Bruce Raney, who played the first two seasons with the Storm. “It continued the development, to give people a semipro, serious opportunity with good coaching because they (ex-Sounders) were still around. It was a fantastic bridge between the original and the next stage which finally led to Major League Soccer.”
Our league had Kasey Keller, Chris Henderson, Chance Fry, Brent Goulet, Marcelo Balboa, Jim Gabarra; it was an impressive list,” recounted Eddie Henderson, who starred for FC Seattle from 1988-90 before focusing on an indoor career. “The quality was there.”
Seven former FC Seattle players were members of the 1995 A-League champion Seattle Sounders. (Frank MacDonald Collection)
If Henderson had one wish, it would have been a return home to play for the Sounders. The crowds had audibly buzzed when he had the ball during his FC Seattle days, and with triple the number of fans, Henderson is left to only imagine the excitement that might have been stirred.
“People want to dismiss FC Seattle and the Western Soccer League because the money wasn’t there,” said Henderson. “We were playing because we loved the game. It wasn’t about the money; it was our lifelong dream.
“The Storm’s never been really recognized because we weren’t called the Sounders. That’s all. It wasn’t because of the quality of players. I would even argue that the FC Seattle team was as good as any of the A-League Sounders teams that won championships.”
All Otey Cannon did was blaze a path, fulfill his role in a legendary squad and make American footy history.
Now, approaching the 50th anniversary of his rather grand entrance into Seattle Sounders lore, Cannon has returned to Seattle, joining other members of the 1974 NASL team to become charter inductees to the Eternal Sounders Circle of Legends.
Few could rival Cannon’s ability to instantly make an impact. He was signed off waivers on June 28, 1974, and made his debut in the next game, eight days later. One particular fan took note of his warming up and was quite vocal. In the 73rd minute of a nil-nil stalemate with St. Louis, he came off the bench.
Otey Cannon celebrates scoring four minutes into his first Sounders shift, vs. St. Louis in 1974. (Frank MacDonald Collection)
“This guy in the stands was screaming my name,” and not in a good way, according to Cannon. “John (Best, head coach) told me to ignore it, to just go out there and play. Then the ball came to me, I hit it – and it went in.”
The resulting roar of the 14,000 at Memorial Stadium effectively silenced that singular loudmouth. Cannon remembers going to his knees in celebration, thinking “Damn, about time!” Beyond that, he doesn’t remember too many specifics. “I was probably just overwhelmed.”
Four minutes into his first Sounders shift, Cannon had scored what proved to be the deciding goal. After losing three straight following star Pepe Fernandez’s season-ending injury, Seattle’s expansion side won its fourth straight and was back in NASL playoff contention. Reminiscent in recent times would be Paul Rothrock’s 2023 winner at Houston – an 83’ entry and 87’ winner – in his MLS debut.
The Boom Boom Legend
For Cannon, it was a relief; he had not scored in a competitive match since his senior season at Chico State, 31 months earlier. In fact, the player once known as ‘Boom Boom’ put six goals past Seattle Pacific in an NCAA tournament game. He would score in bunches, totaling a record 42 goals in two seasons.
That scoring prowess and raw, sprinter speed prompted the Dallas Tornado to take Cannon in the NASL college draft, and all at once he became an unwitting trailblazer. He arrived in Dallas and was told he was the first American-born Black to be drafted in the NASL. When he came off the bench in the Tornado’s season-opener, he made history again, becoming the first Black American to play in a major U.S. league.
Otey Cannon (20) and Tjeert Van’t Land shown in a 1975 preseason game (Frank MacDonald Collection)
“(Tornado owner and, later, FC Dallas founder) Lamar Hunt was trying to promote the game,” recalled Cannon, “and for me to be on the squad as not only an American but a Black American, it was like a feather in their cap because I didn’t know I was the first Black to play in the league.”
Ahead of His Time
To that point, the 21-year-old Cannon had not thought about the color of his skin, at least with respect to soccer. “My old college roommate said, it was a sport that no Blacks played, and you’re basically ahead of your time. He said I was the Jackie Robinson of soccer. I laughed, because being from San Francisco, we didn’t look at it like that. We just played.”
Cannon, one of 10 siblings, would travel with the Tornado throughout Europe, playing exhibitions. There, he was a teammate of Best, the Dallas captain, assistant coach and influential in all off-field initiatives.
Whereas spectators in France, Germany and England “accepted you as a soccer player,” such was not always the case in parts of the U.S. “East of the Mississippi, it was just a different vibe, where you would hear comments,” that Cannon chooses not to repeat. “We didn’t understand racism. Once we got away from the West Coast, that’s where we started seeing and hearing things. My wife had never seen (separate) Black and White drinking fountains until we got to Dallas. This was 1972.” He says it was a time when America “was evolving.”
After two-plus seasons in Dallas, he was released. However, before Cannon could return to California, on the recommendation of Best, the Sounders called.
“Otey was as fast as lightning,” remembers David Gillett, a defensive stalwart for the Sounders their first four seasons. “He had a big, tall hairdo and was such a pleasant, nice guy.”
David Butler, who started ahead of Cannon, scoring 10 goals, does not remember the crowd insults directed toward Cannon, but he had witnessed “terrible racist remarks and actions” at his hometown club in England, West Bromwich Albion, during the Seventies.
Significance Overlooked
Without Fernandez, a Uruguayan forward, Cannon was the only other Black that first year. “There was quite a difference between an American player and an African or Caribbean player,” he said “To find a Black American was kind of a shock to them, the coaches and spectators. There were barriers that you had to knock down.”
When Cannon did make history in Seattle, becoming the first Black American to score in the league, there was scant mention of its greater significance. Rather, out came the reporters’ puns, of the goal being “shot by a Cannon.”
He would appear in each of the remaining games, starting four. He did not score again. Early in 1975, Cannon was released, just after learning he and wife Brenda would be starting their family. Daughter Nicole was born in Seattle and has returned to live here. Otey and Brenda visit regularly.
Seattle’s original 1974 Sounders. (Frank MacDonald Collection)
Creating A Culture
Although the Sounders would fall just short in their playoff bid, they went 13-7 and finished with the league’s fifth-best point total. They were a close-knit group, with all of them residing in the same apartment complex, often sharing cars. Pay was nominal. He noted: “We really didn’t have any real superstars, we had players. We were all able to mesh. The English players, the Dutch and European players, we all got along. There was never any animosity or anger because of race, creed or color.”
While in Dallas, the club might send Cannon and his teammates to shopping malls to juggle a ball and attract attention from passersby. “In Seattle, we would actually go to people’s homes, have dinner. We would go meet a whole community at a community center, sit down and talk and have a barbecue.”
Otey Cannon at Sounders training, June 14, 2024
“After the end of the game, the whole team, we’d go to midfield, and we’d bow to each section of the stadium,” said Cannon. “The fans would come on the field and would mingle with them. That was the good, warm community feeling that we had up there. It didn’t happen in other places like that. But Seattle was a city that embraced the team.”
After Seattle, Cannon caught on with the Sacramento’s American Soccer League team, leading the Spirit for two seasons. While he pursued his dream, Brenda’s job with Pacific Bell, said Otey, kept them financially afloat. After he stopped playing, he joined the California Highway Patrol, serving for 30 years.
Otey Cannon, 1975 (Frank MacDonald Collection)
Only Gratitude
Cannon harbors no bitterness, only gratefulness for his opportunity to pursue a dream and see much of the country and the world while doing so. He just wanted to play, and the history-making was a bonus. He is an inductee to several other halls of fame in the Bay Area, and his feats of ‘firsts’ are now more widely known.
He and the ’74 Sounders are now recognized for creating a chemistry with fans, with winning games within a team framework and setting a high standard. Those are traits which have now been intertwined with Sounders soccer for five decades. They will not be forgotten by anyone who bore witness.
“Seattle had never seen anything like that,” said Cannon. “We loved doing these things with the fans. We didn’t need a reward, we loved doing it because the people treated us so good. Everybody was made to feel like they were at home.”
My adoration of Jimmy Gabriel is founded largely on a single half-hour shift and, really, just the first 10 minutes. My profound admiration of our first true Mr. Sounder lasts to this day.
Jimmy Gabriel may no longer walk this earth, but without question his legacy lives on. Every time Brian Schmetzer fills out a lineup sheet or delivers his team talk. Every time Bernie James addresses his kids. Every time Dean Wurzberger or Lesle Gallimore conduct a clinic. And so on and so on.
Jimmy Gabriel celebrates as the Sounders roar back to beat Portland in 1977. (Frank MacDonald Collection)
Our state soccer community thrives on so many fronts: Professional, college, amateur, youth and, of course, our legion of fans. For 20-25 years, Jimmy Gabriel was instrumental in the development of all those. Head coach, coaching director, assistant coach, volunteer: No matter the role, he found a means to contribute, sometimes forcefully, often times quietly. Not much for pomp, he led with his heart, and that’s when he won me over.
It was 1977, Jimmy’s first year after being elevated to head coach, and the Sounders were stumbling mightily out of the gate. Never mind that they lost the first three matches, they didn’t even score, and down 2-nil at home to Portland, Gabriel and the lads were staring at 0-4. Then everything changed.
Never to be Replicated
As a kid watching on TV some 90 miles away, Jimmy’s next act was unforgettable. It will never be replicated, either. Against our fiercest rival, he pulled off his track jacket, un-retired, inserted himself into the match and imposed his will upon the outcome.
Within a minute or two, Jimmy went flying into a midfield tackle on the hard, unforgiving Kingdome turf. He got mostly ball, and he also got himself a rugburn and an obviously painful muscle pull. Might’ve been hamstring, maybe groin. Whatever it was, he was hurting. But he was running, he was contributing, and he wasn’t coming off. The tackle sent a message to all the other 25,000 players and fans in the Dome – and the kid watching faraway – that this fight was far from over.
Seven minutes into his shift, Jimmy headed a cross back across the crease for Davey Butler to score. A Paul Crossley penalty tied it, and with five minutes left Butler did it again, scoring the winner. The Sounders would go on to reach their first league final, and although Jimmy’s teams could be up and down, my belief in him never wavered.
That’s my Jimmy Gabriel story. I’ve listened to many more, although rarely from his lips.
The Obvious Leader
Bob Robertson, the original Voice of the Sounders, recalled how Jimmy might explain through his thick, Scottish brogue the use of physicality: “It’s a man’s game, is it not?”
FC Seattle owner Bud Greer credited Jimmy not only with the impetus for launching the team but later adding the nickname. “He said, ‘Look, we’re seeing some pretty good players (and) it’s time we fielded a team of good American players. Interestingly enough, the Storm nickname was his. He had this fixation on naming teams after weather.” So, Jimmy’s only quarrel with our NWSL team might be that it’s not spelled Rain.
Coaching FC Seattle in 1986 (Frank MacDonald Collecction)
Dave Gillett and John Best were among those who noted his instant credibility and command of respect once Jimmy brought a player to the Sounders. “He’s obviously a leader,” said Best. Added Gillett: “Players like me really looked up to him…you just learned the game from him.”
Jimmy McAlister played for Jimmy with the Sounders and San Jose, where his biggest feat may have been getting the notoriously troublesome yet immensely talented George Best to play 30 games after missing a combined 17 the previous two years.
Jimmy Gabriel resigned from that job. He did the same with the Sounders and FC Seattle. Never fired, he had the strength and conviction of character to know when either he needed a change of scenery, or the club did. One of his greatest gifts was working with young, emerging talent. He could tailor his message to motivate American kids, as opposed to a less gentle approach to British kids. He could lift the level of those players because he truly believed in them, often times more than they believed in themselves.
‘Are you kidding, in a reserve game?’
His commitment to the team was never in question. McAlister told the story of Jimmy, at age 40, playing in a reserve game with the younger players. “He broke his nose and had to have it strapped to his face for the rest of the game,” recalled McAlister. “People in the stands are going, ‘Are you kidding me, he’s doing this in a reserve game?’”
McAlister played in that ’77 Portland game and could immediately see Jimmy was injured. “On the field he was as animalistic as anyone, but he was also very intelligent. Most guys who get stuck in, like the goon on a hockey team, there’s not a lot going on with them. Jimmy was different from them.” Which takes us back to that night in 1977.
I’ve talked to Jimmy about that game several times. His memory of it remained sharp. “I knew that if I could get out there and show them we needed more effort, more energy; if we did that, we would get the crowd behind us, even though we might not win the game.
Jimmy Gabriel working with Tony Chursky in training (Frank MacDonald Collection)
“I told myself I had to stay on,” he continued. “Then I got in a few tackles and a few things happened. The kids and the new players got a bit lifted, and they started to play better.”
The Greatest Guy
“He’s probably the greatest guy I was ever around, for feeling confident and good about yourself,” said McAlister. “Jimmy was the best coach in terms of motivating players and you wanting to play for your coach. He’s just a great human being. He cares about everything.”
In some ways, Jimmy Gabriel was a man of the times, in terms of his courageous play. But he may have been ahead of his time as a coach. His caring, sympathetic and rejuvenating ways play much like Pete Carroll’s.
It’s a man’s game, yet Jimmy appeals to your heart, and when players exhibit heart, everything gets lifted. The challenge to all of us who knew Jimmy or knew stories of Jimmy, is to find new and different ways to lift others up, to make them their best.
What’s your Jimmy Gabriel story?
Note: Jimmy Gabriel died July 10, 2021 at the age of 80. Gabriel came to Seattle in 1974 already a legend at Everton, where he won league and FA Cup winners’ medals. He served as captain, assistant coach and head coach of the NASL Sounders. In 1983 he became Washington Youth Soccer’s first coaching director. From 1984-86 Gabriel was coaching director and head coach of FC Seattle. After returning to Seattle in 1997 he was an assistant to both the University of Washington men’s and women’s programs. During the first few seasons of Sounders FC, Gabriel was a member of the radio broadcast team.
If there is to be a monument celebrating John Rowlands, it must stand tall and strong. It must exude tenacity, cunning and somehow exhibit a pinch of mischief.
For John Rowlands must be known for far more than just the goal that sounded our soccer community’s collective awakening. He was a buoyant, forceful personality; someone who would lead you headlong into the fray yet elicit some hardy laughs along the way. He was adventurous, striking out from his homeland for this faraway port to play for a side that had no prior existence. Here he would join, and in many ways lead, likeminded lads who blazed a path for what has become a thriving, footballing realm. He was a beacon.
John Rowlands, who led the line and, in many ways set the carefree tone of those first Sounders teams of the Seventies, has died, a victim of Coronavirus earlier this month in his native northwest England. He was 73.
John Rowlands, ca. 1974 (Frank MacDonald Collection)
Yet to the vast majority of contemporary footy followers around Seattle, the name Rowlands may fail to resonate. You might find a fuzzy image of him on YouTube or the black and white photographs such as those on this page. However, that’s all two-dimensional, and if one really wants to identify themselves a Sounder for life, let’s learn a bit about the late, great Sounder, John Rowlands.
Once John Best got a look at the narrow, crowned and unforgivingly hard Astroturf of Memorial Stadium, Seattle’s first coach envisioned the cast best equipped to win games in those cozy confines while at the same time winning fans. The plan: Those first Sounders would go direct, straight down the middle.
Professional sports is generally depicted as glamorous, a high life where players mix with other celebrities, relax at exotic and exclusive destinations and, all and all, lead a jet-set existence.
Truth be told, the majority of those being paid to perform
in the athletic arena are relatively simple folk who face many of the same
struggles of the common human. And while the rock star may flash a Rolex and
rumble off in a Lamborghini, the stories told by the rank and file are
interesting in their own right and, without question, more relatable.
Take the fishing story of Roger Levesque. Our smiling,
swashbuckling former Sounder forward is well-known for his pirate face and his
scuba celebration. But how many know that Levesque made his pro soccer life
possible by fishing the open sea?
For over 12 years, Levesque held a commercial fishing
license, working out of ports such as Astoria, Westport and Bellingham. Out
into the Pacific they’d sail in search of sablefish, a.k.a. black cod. When the
USL Sounders season ended, he would go out to sea where the catch enabled him
to make ends meet.
“I couldn’t buy a house or condo, and it was a huge
investment at the time,” explains Levesque, who took out a line of credit to
pay $90,000 for the license in 2006. “It helped bridge the gap.”
Thar he goes: Roger Levesque , commercial fisherman. During his USL and post-MLS days, he supplemented his income by catching black cod, a.k.a. sablefish, off the Washington and Oregon coasts. (Courtesy Roger Levesque)
Stormy Weather
In October, the weather can contribute to rough seas, and
Levesque and the crew would usually stay out 2-3 days until they reached their
limit. At times, it could take a week. They might sleep for a couple hours as
the lines soaked, but it could be 36 straight hours of demanding and sometimes
dangerous work.
There was not only a new head coach and GM but also
literally a ton of new players. And if Zach Scott thought he was the only
substitute schoolteacher among the lot of 2002 Sounders, the know-it-all student
in the front row would soon inform him. There was at least three.
However, Scott was probably the only player/teacher whose
Sounders career began by commuting 4-5 hours each way and who not only
graduated from college but got married within the first two months.
“I flew back to Maui for three days, we got married, and
then,” recalls Scott, “I flew back because we had a game that weekend.” All
that and no pay.
Having made Brian Schmetzer’s squad through a tryout, the
rookie from Gonzaga signed for the minimum. “We were getting $250 per game, if
you made it onto the field,” Scott confirms.
But in the first match following his nuptials, a one-sided
win over Hampton Roads, he never got off the bench.
Zach Scott progressed from first-year trialist to legend status after 15 seasons.
Those final years prior to Seattle joining MLS are
remembered for their four trophies and two extended runs and upsets in the Open
Cup. Yet as that A-League and USL era
fades in the rearview mirror, some may not comprehend just how lean was the
Sounders’ payroll.
Reminder: It’s A
Business
It should be noted that it’s unlikely Seattle would’ve
scored an MLS franchise, at least in 2007, had that USL club not existed. And
it only existed because Adrian Hanauer and fellow investors kept it afloat by
running a tight ship. Three pro soccer franchises in Seattle and Tacoma had
drowned in red ink, and when Hanauer became the managing partner the club was
coming off its worst finish for both attendance and league standing.
One evening, not so long ago, Peter Fewing was dining out with friends when a tablemate mentioned that Fewing once played professional soccer. It made him giggle, just a little.
When Jeff Stock first signed with the original Seattle
Sounders out of Tacoma’s Stadium High School, he wanted to maintain his amateur
status and eligibility for the 1980 Olympic Games. Still, his earnings, when
adjusted through an inflation calculator, were exponentially more than
Fewing’s. In fact, in 2020 dollars it exceeds that of some top players for
Reign FC today.
It’s madness, in many respects. But for those who have
played at the top levels of American pro soccer the past 45 years, this hardly
comes as a surprise. Any yet, none of the journeymen interviewed for this story
have many complaints. In fact, all maintain they were enriched by the
experience, intellectually if not financially.
“I was playing at the highest level of soccer in the country
at the time,” notes Fewing, now 26 seasons into a career as Seattle
University’s head coach. “It was fun, we had fans, we signed autographs, and we
got two free beers and a burger at the postgame party. The sentiment was that
we were having too much fun to complain.”
