THE ACROPOLIS and CORINTHIANS SOCCER TEAM
In 1978, after finishing my professional soccer career with the Portland Timbers I was approached by John Polis, co-founder of the Acropolis amateur soccer team and former sports journalist with the Oregonian newspaper, to help with their new-found team. Since I had the intention of continuing to play soccer, I agreed to become player-coach of the “Acrop”. In doing so, I became the first former Portland Timbers player to play and coach in Oregon amateur soccer. Most of the Acrop’s players had taken up soccer late in their amateur sports careers. Few had played to a high standard, and so the task of coaching, or as I like to refer to it, ‘coaxing,’ meant starting from scratch, even though many within the group were good athletes who had played team sports like basketball.
Having been on numerous teams during my career, I knew right away that this was a group of guys who wanted to improve their skills, compete, win, and enjoy the experience. Looking back on the 48+ years I have been associated with the Acrop, a few key things come to mind:
The composition of the group changed many times over the years. The squad evolved in the same way as Portland and the US did during that period (the team played competitively from 1977 to 2013), and became much more cosmopolitan. The Acrop welcomed ‘waves’ of immigrants from Africa, Europe and Latin America. Our group featured players from: Scotland, Ireland, England, Wales, Greece, Romania, Hungary, Poland, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Libya, Egypt, and people who came to Portland for business reasons. With these immigrants came different cultural norms, religions, styles of playing soccer, and different senses of humor. Soccer was the great ‘equalizer,’ an international ‘language,’ a common denominator,’ that provided the platform upon which friendships and teamwork could be built.
One such example of a different sporting culture was provided by Ed Korfanty a Polish immigrant and Acrop alumnus, who coached fencing (sabre) in the Olympics. Ed’s students have won over 41 World Championship medals, two Olympic Gold Medals (2008 Beijing, 2004 Athens), and three Olympic Bronze Medals (2008 Beijing). Additionally with Korfanty as National Coach, the US Women’s Sabre team won 5 Gold medals in the Team World Championships. Add the individual and team medals won at World Championships and the medal count increases by 9.
Ed was a formidable athlete, an avid soccer player, and a wonderful teammate. During his time with Acrop, he introduced us to the custom of greeting every teammate before practices and games. As a lifelong student of soccer and coaching, this simple gesture impressed me as it started every team activity with an act of friendship upon which relationships and teamwork could be built. Some of our players were refugees. Arriving in this country with just the clothes on their back, a smattering of English and the will to succeed. Our existing players helped these players find coaching assignments in soccer to help them generate the funds necessary to support their families if and until they found permanent employment.
The Acrop, as a competitive group of players progressed through the local amateur ranks and won divisions at many age levels from ‘Open’ to Over-30s, Over-40s, and Over-50s. This meant that we were constantly ‘recruiting’ players — we often joked about ‘signing’ players on the back of a match-box cover with offers of ‘gyros’ (featured at the Acropolis tavern) and cold beer. I had served as a volunteer coach at the University of Portland and managed to persuade 3-4 former NCAA college players to join our ranks. Similarly, through my time with the Timbers, I was able to invite Mike Davis (UP Men’s Soccer and Catlin Gabel soccer coach), Brian Baker, whom I worked with at Nike, and, on singular occasions Charlie Cooke of Chelsea and Scotland fame. No amateur team in Oregon has ever had the distinction of having a former FIFA World XI play for them — the Acrop has!
Our lowly amateur team resolved to practice year-round. Note: Many amateur teams, especially in the lower divisions of amateur soccer do not practice between games. I took the responsibility of devising practice sessions that would improve individuals and our team. I also pushed players to their physical limits, something they still talk about. I was always cognizant of how many of our players were, like me, coaches too. Consequently, I tried to provide enjoyable, challenging, and productive practices and the appropriate level of leadership at games and was open to input from other qualified coaches.
One additional feature I’m particularly proud of was how our team invited the sons and daughters of our players to practice if and when they reached a sufficient level of skill to hold their own. Again, in retrospect, and having spoken with many of our players this was the first time that they had been able to play alongside their children as they learned how to conduct themselves amongst a group of 20+ adults they had never met before. I asked my teammates to curtail their language and to avoid strong physical play involving these young players. Over the 33+ years I played and coached the Acrop, involving thousands of practices and matches I only experienced two instances where individual players contradicted the guidelines we had in place, and both of those times the players in question were ‘guest’ players.
Such has been the camaraderie created amongst the Acrop that we have been able to continue meeting as a group, supporting causes we respect. One such cause is the Dynasty House Foundation. Dominic Yambasu a teacher and coach of great repute, and an Acrop alumnus created a foundation to honor his deceased father in Motema, Sierra Leone. His focus has been on education. He has successfully built a primary school and provided the dues for school scholarships at the primary, secondary, and collegiate levels of education. Our team has raised ~$20,000 to support Dominic and his endeavor. Much of this money has been raised many years after our team stopped playing together.
Many people take up a sport during their lives and it features prominently in their lives for a short duration. Friendships, though real, are often transient by nature — not so with the Acrop. For many of us, it has been part of our social fabric for decades. Victories won, defeats endured, and, sadly, teammates lost.
What follows are short memorials to the players we have lost. All of us at our age, are faced with the inevitably of loss. We approach these losses as we have all of the setbacks we’ve faced as a team — together. It makes me immensely proud to have witnessed the strong turnout of Acrop alumni at the increasing number of ‘Celebrations of Life’ we have attended. In doing so we have found a way to celebrate our departed ‘brothers in soccer’ and to provide their families with a sense of how much they meant to our team.