DSB Kickers

I never played soccer until my third year at the University of Delaware, which was the Fall of 1962.  From that late beginning, I went on to play, coach and referee for 30 years, in the U.S.A., Mexico and Germany, ending my playing days in 1992 in the Montgomery County, Maryland Over-35 soccer program.

PLAYER

I tried playing soccer because my friend Werner Goeckel convinced me to give it a try.   After our junior year at the university Werner wanted to leave the university soccer team and join a local sandlot team, the Wilmington Soccer Club.  This was the Fall of 1963.  We played one season and then for the next few years we both served in the U.S. Army.

In the Fall of 1968, Werner and I joined the Delaware Sängerbund Kickers.  The Delaware Sängerbund is a social club in Newark, Delaware which at that time sponsored a soccer team.  The team played in the Delaware Valley Soccer League.  The manager of the team quit after 2 or 3 games and Werner volunteered me to take over the team.   After this one season we both got involved in other things and moved away from Newark.  [Click on the link on the left, DSB Kickers, to read an newspaper article about the team.]

In 1974, living in Rockville, Maryland, I joined a soccer team sponsored by Weinschel Engineering and playing in the Montgomery County Recreation Department men's league.   The team was made up of Germans working for Weinschel Engineering and Americans.   When the team manager decided to leave the team, I took it over.  After a few seasons, I changed the team to Soccer International.  By this time we were a combination of Americans and Germans from the German Embassy in Washington.  We had become quite successful winning championships in the league.  I moved to Mexico City in 1978 and the team disbanded.

In Mexico City I organized a soccer team at the American Embassy.  I was the only American on the team with the rest of the members coming from Mexican employees of the embassy.  We did not belong to a league but I was able to arrange a regular series of games over most of the next year and a half.  The last six months I lived in Mexico City I played for a team made up of Germans living in Mexico City and playing in a local league.  I was the only American along with two Mexicans who played for the team.   The rest were Germans.

In 1980, upon returning to Rockville, I joined the Montgomery Village Eagles, a team playing in the Montgomery County Over-35 men's league.  After 2 or 3 seasons, the manager quit and I took over.  Our team was half Americans and half British, most of them being employees of the British Embassy in Washington.  The team became quite successful, winning several championships.

The team eventually disbanded after the Spring 1986 season and I then played about 3 seasons with a team called Thunder.  I moved out of the area in the summer of 1988 and did not return until summer 1990.  I played one season for a team called YNOTS and then I "retired" from playing league soccer.

During 1996 and 1997 I played a few times in Germany in games organized among members of the diplomatic community in Bonn, Germany, but it was not a regular thing.  They were the last games I played in.

COACH

I coached my son's Montgomery Soccer Incorporated (MSI) Open team for 9 seasons from the Fall 1980 season to the Fall 1984 season. 

In 1998, I coached a girl's Under-12 team in the MSI Classic league for the Spring and Fall seasons.

In order to coach in MSI Classic I obtained a United States Soccer Federation (USSF) Youth "E" License.

REFEREE