1983 NAIA National Soccer Championships

From Slippery Rock to the Rose Bowl by Chuck Brady Sports Editor, The Quincy (III.) Herald-Whig NAIA Soccer Championships have been decided in widely separated, and extremely diverse, settings from coast-to-coast with North Carolina and Illinois each having hosted the tournament five times. The 25th Anniversary Tournament is the second to be contested on the plains of northern Texas. But how fitting that soccer, the original "sport of the world," put down its NAIA Championship roots on the campus of a small school in western Pennsylvania that in reports of "American football" scores is nearly as legendary as Notre Dame, Princeton or Southern Cal. Slippery Rock State, under the forward-looking leadership of Jim Egli welcomed the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics in 1959 when the organization added the kicking game to its growing agenda of championship tournaments. Soccer became the tenth event on the NAIA national championships calendar. Pratt Institute won the first title, and that school in New York is even farther from Simon Fraser, the 1982 champion from British Colubia, Canada, than is Slippery Rock's cozy campus setting from Pasadena's mammoth Rose Bowl, where the final round of matches was played in 1976. Personnel in leadership roles have undergone virtually a complete turnover since the struggling early days of four-team tournaments in The East. Most of the original organizers are no longer directly involved - and the cast of colleges and universities bears little resemblance to those that played at Lock Haven, Pa., Richmond, Ind., Frostburg, Md., Upper Montclair, N.J., and those first two years at Slippery Rock. As one close to the event for 18 years, I can, without hesitation, give an 'A' to the national association, the leaders and the participants; but another letter seems even more appropriate. How about a 'Q' -- for quagmire and for Quincy? Sunshine and mild temperatures aren't completely unknown at National Tournament sites, but events held in late November figure to experience considerable weather problems, regardless of the setting. And one needs only glance at the list of former champions, tourney all-stars and NAIA Soccer Hall of Famers to appreciate the impact of Quincy College. Starting with the rain and mud - followed by snow - at the first tournament, most recollections have weather and field conditions on the same plateau as the championship team and individual standouts. Not even attempts to move the tourney to The South have succeeded, for only the first year (1970) at Dunn, N.C. was marked by the bright sunshine associated with Dixie. A four-inch snow fell on Friday of tournament week the following year and host Campbell College had to cope with rain and soggy playing conditions in '72. It was much the same in 1977 at Alabama-Huntsville - even though moisture that descended in that soccer hotbed in northern Alabama was strictly in the form of rain. Conditions the first year at Slippery Rock were but a sample of what was to come at Frostburg (Md.) State in 1963. The host city turned out to be very appropriately named as the final match was cancelled because of freezing rain, wind and snow. Earlham (Ind.) and Castleton (Vt.) State were declared co-champions. In 1960, Elizabethtown (Pa.) and Newark (N.J.) shared the championship when the decisive duel was halted as darkness settled in following the fourth overtime. As weather conditions became an annual concern, there was also the problem of finding a college and community willing to take on the risk having a costly undertaking ravaged by weather. Soccer was still vieing for a spot on the national sports scene and chances were slim for even so-so attendance if conditions were less than ideal. In 1965, Kansas City became the largest city to host the event to that time, as Rockhurst College accepted the challenge. But attendance was disappointing. That was the year Trenton State (N.J.) became the first school to achieve consecutive titles. Quincy College played its first varsity soccer game in 1964, and the Hawks, featuring a roster of St. Louisans, went 8-0. QC wasn't taken seriously, though, and didn't receive a bid to postseason area competition. In '65, Quincy was picked for the area tournament and lost out to Earlham after an opening win over Berea (Ky.). A 1966 regular season victory over St. Louis University, the perennial champion among major university powers, stamped Quincy's program as a solid one and at the close of that season the Hawks made their first trip to the NAIA Nationals a triumphant one. Belmont Abby College, outside Charlotte, N.C. provided ideal weather, and Coach Roger Francour's team not only thwarted Trenton State's bid for a third straight prize, but did it by a 6-1 score. With the championship banner in its possession, Quincy College accepted the role of hosts for the 1967 Nationals -- and the Hawks made it two straight at the expense of Alderson-Broaddus (W.Va.) and Rockhurst. The weather in Illinois was chilly and damp, but not nearly as miserable as in 1968 when the event remained in Quincy -- with the field doubled to eight teams. Temperatures in the teens, forced a postponement of the Thanksgiving Day schedule and on Saturday, Davis &Elkins College of West Virginia made its first splash on the national soccer scene. The Senators outlasted the host Hawks, 2-1, in a gruelling encounter that went a record six overtimes. That marathon was to be exceeded by a wide margin later in Pasadena. Davis & Elkins also reached the finals in 1969 at Richmond, Ind., losing 1-0 in overtime to Eastern Illinois, which had survived an overtime with Quincy College in the area finals. That turned out to be the last time Quincy failed to reach the Nationals until this fall when Coach Jack Mackenzie's outfit became a 1-0 victim of Sangamon State in the Dist. 20 finale. -19-