The Cannibal Club and the Search for Soccer Immortality

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“Remarkable boy. I do admire your courage. I think I'll eat your heart.” - Hannibal Lecter, Red Dragon

One of the oldest taboos in the world, cannibalism has been practiced throughout time and all over the world. The act of eating human flesh and organs has appeared in various folk tales such as “Hansel and Gretel” and even in Greek mythology with the story of Thyestes, whose son was eaten by his brother and king Atreus. In various lore, the act of eating another human being was even thought as a way to gain strength and knowledge from the one consumed, and one could even attain immortality.

As we travel into modern society the idea of cannibalism is the one of grim tales and blockbuster movies. But what about in our sport of soccer? Not the idea of eating other humans, but the idea of one soccer club consuming another to gain strength and dominance in competition. Enter the Los Angeles Kickers, whose quest for national glory and soccer immortality saw the consumption of four different clubs. While, still in existence to this day, they are a former shell of what they have accomplished in the past. A  team whose strong success led to many titles and whose players have etched themselves in American soccer history.

The Kickers were founded in 1951 by a few German-Americans, most notably Albert Ebert and Fritz Ermit. They entered the crowded Los Angeles market and joined the Greater Los Angeles Soccer league or GLASL. While they found state and national success, the GLASL title eluded them. Then in 1963 the Kickers would absorb their first club, Los Angeles Victoria, and the dynasty was born. The Kickers, or sometimes referred to as LA-KV, won the GLASL league title in 1963, 1964, and 1965. Feeding off their league success in '63 and '64 the Kickers consumed Germania SC in 1965 and rebranded as the Los Angeles Soccer Club. After their title in '65 the Kickers began to fade from prominence. In an attempt to achieve glory once again, the Los Angeles Soccer Club consumed the Hollywood Stars SC in 1972 and then Almenia '69 in 1975, but they never achieved the success they once had.

The Kickers are one of the most decorated clubs in American soccer history. They won their first state title in 1956, five years after conception, and then won it from 1958 to 1965. During that seven year time period they went on to win their three league titles and two U.S. Open Cup titles. They appeared in the three open cup finals: the first in 1958 where they beat Baltimore Pompei 2-1, they lost to the Philadelphia Ukrainian Nationals in 1960 with a scoreline of 5-3 and got revenge in 1964 by beating the Ukranians 4-2. In 1964 the Kickers would go on to have one of the greatest seasons of American soccer history winning four titles: the GLASL league title, the Douglas Cup (Southern California), the Cal State Cup and the U.S. Open Cup.


With help from the Los Angeles Kickers, Southern California became a hotbed for soccer. Teams from all over the world, like Manchester United and 1860 Munich would come down to play in front of large crowds and often against the Los Angeles competition. In 1963, the Kickers would even go on an overseas tour to places like New Zealand, Australia and even played against Eintracht Frankfurt in front of 1500 German fans at the Riederwaldstadion, a stadium that was used by the Frankfurt U-23 until 2008.

The Kickers also contributed to the United States Men's National Team. Helmut Bicek earned five caps and two goals, including one goal in the 1965 2-2 tie against our biggest rival Mexico. Another Kicker Eberhard Herz earned one cap in World Cup qualification against Mexico. Herz also scored in the 1960 U.S. Open Cup final loss. One of the most famous Kickers was Willie Carson. While Carson only earned one cap with the USMNT, he was often the main source of goal scoring success for Los Angeles. He is known for his two goal game in the 1958 U.S. Open Cup final, but also had many multi-goal games in league play. Traverse old newspaper archives and his name is plastered throughout GLASL results. The other big name in Kicker's history is ten year captain Al Zerhusen, who earned at least 10 caps, played in the Pan-American games and even in the 1960 Olympics. Zerhusen was a high scoring midfielder who often won the GLASL golden boot.

Unfortunately most of the Kickers history has been lost with time and is often over-shadowed by the giants of East Coast soccer history. But unlike the many clubs from the East Coast who have faded away over time, the Kickers or the Los Angeles Soccer Club still exist to this day. While they may have achieved soccer immortality, their cannibalistic nature could not keep the club at the heights of glory and they remain a hollow shell of their past, but they live nonetheless.

The Kicks and a Minnesotan Soccer Spirit That Never Quite Died

Where do I begin with the Minnesota Kicks, an orange and blue-clad club that made Minnesota a core piece of the NASL long before the Stars or United would make even the slightest of marks in the 21st century?

The Kicks, who drew an average of 23,000 fans to Bloomington, Minnesota, were the state’s first proper professional soccer club and in turn its most memorable footprint on the beautiful game in the 20th century. Bringing international notables like Glasgow Rangers, Hammarby IF, and Ipswich Town to Met Stadium through the years, the boys in orange weren’t just part of another club from the golden age of the NASL, they made up one of the league’s great teams. Needless to say, the club- which started as a two-year flop in Denver known as the Denver Dynamos and recording a record of 14 wins and 28 losses -found its home in Minnesota.

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When it comes to stats and basic history, the Kicks are famous for a variety of achievements ranging from a single game attendance of 49,572- a state record only recently broken by Minnesota United -to their long list of division and conference titles. It should be known that the Minnesota Kicks won their division four times in a row from 1976 to 1979. It may very well be, however, that there is a greater testament to the power of the Minnesota Kicks than what they accomplished on the pitch. That measurement is their ascension to an almost folklore-like existence in the consciousness of Minnesota soccer clubs and supporters young and old.

One can find references, dedications, and inspiration from the Minnesota Kicks at every corner of the beautiful game in the state of 10,000 lakes. From a Kicks-themed away kit for the 2011 Minnesota Stars to a dedication involving several former Kicks players at Minnesota United inaugural MLS home match in 2017, professional soccer in the state has never tried to run too far away from its roots. In anticipation for its attendance record-breaking match against the LA Galaxy, Minnesota United promoted the match with retro footage and images of the Kicks, a marketing plan which visibly won over the hearts of soccer fans who could remember Kicks games and young fans who were desperate for a glimpse into the blurred past of professional soccer in the United States.

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The Kicks, who were quite cleverly named via a name-the-team contest, also find themselves the target of adoration from Minnesota’s modern-day lower league landscape. This is best shown by recent summer actions taken by Minneapolis City SC. Following the opening of its Club Shop, a wide variety of merchandise was sold that included homages to the NASL club, its kits, and its star players. City went as far as to briefly change its logo to one designed in dedication to the Kicks’ logo and invited Kicks players to the store’s grand opening.

The core story of the Kicks, like most from the original age of NASL, ends on a sad note. Following changes in ownership, changes within the NASL as a league, mixed results on the pitch, and financial roadblocks, the team found itself up for sale and missing a payment toward its players and staff at the end of the 1981 season. NASL Commissioner Phil Woosnam attempted to find a buyer for the club but was not able to do so, leading to the club’s exclusion from the 1981-82 NASL Indoor season. The club folded in December of 1981 and had its players released in a dispersal draft.

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The Minnesota Kicks are no longer, and it’s been that way for quite some time, but that hasn’t stopped the boys in orange and blue from cementing themselves in the hearts and imaginations of Minnesota’s ever-growing crowd of soccer fans. From winks and nods by the Stars and United to open dedications at the history-making Minneapolis City SC Club Shop, the NASL may be dead and gone but the Kicks are very much alive, just not in the way you might expect.

- Dominic Bisogno

The Ghosts of Fall River

My theory on ghosts is that that they are lingering echoes from time gone by. Not necessarily spirits or spectral beings, but just regular people, like you and I, who are somehow reflecting across time, connected to a place in the world. Maybe that’s less spooky than imagining a haunting spirit in the mood for vengeance, but I’ve always seen it as slightly more scientific. Because the past certainly influences us in the present, from our genetics to our heritage to our national history. They are all aspects that have been shaped and molded by eras that are long gone and by thousands of people long dead. We may pretend that those who came before have no bearing on the here and now, but that doesn’t make them any less significant.

In Tiverton, Rhode Island, there’s a haunted house in the soccer neighborhood. A place where once there was a mighty force that dominated the soccer landscape for a decade. A mighty force that, ghostlike, haunts the dreams of all soccer fans in this country. Mostly in echoes, old fashioned names and grainy black and white images, dancing on the edges of our consciousness like a memory wanting to be remembered, but just out of reach. That place is now an overgrown field, an empty lot, really. Much like the memory of the club that once played there, nearly forgotten by the town that contains it. That place is Mark’s Stadium and the club that played there was the Fall River Marksmen.

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The Fall River Marksmen began their storied life in 1922. Fall River United was purchased by Sam Mark and he renamed the club after himself (Mark’s Men = Marksmen). At that time, Fall River and neighboring Tiverton were full of fresh immigrant families, most of whom came to work in the booming textile industry in the area. In 1920, Fall River had over 100 textile factories in operation, making the city the largest textile producer in the United States.

All those mills required a tremendous amount of human labor and European immigrants flooded the market to take those jobs. They brought with them their love of soccer and the American Soccer League and clubs like Fall River United sprouted up to fill that need. Those ghostly clubs from that past era that we’ve heard of but never understood were, for the most part, rooted in these immigrant factory-based communities. The people in these cities supported the sport, filled the stands, and often produced the players. This was truly local soccer.

Prior to Sam Mark purchasing the club, Fall River United was a crap club. Its first year it finished sixth out of eight clubs in the inaugural ASL season. The club leader in goals only had six (Jack Corrigan), and the club tripled that number in the loss category. It was a rough season and the club seemed destined to collapse as many of these start up clubs did that first year (three others disbanded). With the club in a perilous situation, Sam Mark stepped in to save the day. A local businessman who was born in Fall River, he felt that investing in the club could yield some results and he did just that.

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Other soccer clubs in that era were drawing 10,000 a match. That might seem like a small number but consider that in 1921 the Boston Red Sox were drawing less than 2,000 fans a game in their new home, Fenway Park. In terms of attendance, soccer was the best attended sport in the United States. Mark knew that if he could turn the club around, he could draw a crowd and, of course, make money.

His first move was renaming the club; shake the dust off and move forward. Next he began building a stadium for his new club. It might be a surprise to some that the stadium site was across the river in Rhode Island, in Tiverton, but Sam had a plan. Massachusetts at the time (some still exist) had strict “blue laws” which restricted  business operations on Sundays. Those laws included soccer matches, so Mark, like any businessman, found a better option that would allow him to run his business on whatever day he chose. To do that, he built his new stadium in Tiverton, RI, close enough to draw crowds from Fall River, but just clear of those pesky blue laws. He named his new 15,000 seat stadium Mark’s Stadium.

Now that the club had been rebranded and moved into a new home, it was time to restructure the play on the field. The first move was to bring on multiple players from the Scottish Leagues (this would cause problems later on). The big signing, however, came from another ASL club: Bethlehem Steel. Mark signed Harold Brittan, a former Chelsea player who had scored 24 goals for Bethlehem the year before. His offense was sure to bring change to the 18 loss club.

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The 1923 season showed instant improvement for Fall River. Brittan delivered on his promise, scoring 19 goals and pushing the club to third in the league. The next season Mark invested in the roster again and the club improved- winning the double -both the ASL and the National Challenge Cup (what’s now called the U.S. Open Cup). The semifinal match of the Challenge Cup, where Fall River would face league rivals Bethlehem Steel, drew an estimated 20,000. That 1924 season would be the beginning of a decade of dominance for the Fall River Marksmen. The club won six league titles and four National Challenge Cup competitions. But all ghost stories contain tragedy and the story of Fall River is no exception.

1930

While the American Soccer League had done well for most of the 1920s, the next decade would bring trouble for the league. The Great Depression greatly reduced the amount of disposable income in the country and most leagues struggled. To magnify the financial problems, the ASL had placed most of its clubs in manufacturing centers. Much of that manufacturing slowed or died during the economic downturn, creating mass unemployment. Even worse, there was a wave of anti-immigrant hysteria in the country and soccer was seen as a foreign sport. These outside pressures sparked infighting between the league clubs. The final nail was FIFA pressuring the USFA (now USSF) to sanction the ASL, due to its raiding of European leagues and ignoring existing club contracts. In 1933, the greatest American soccer league- one that had dominated the national soccer culture, crushed visiting foreign clubs, gobbled up players from around the world, and won the battle for sports fans in the country -collapsed.

Fall River Marksmen disbanded and the players were absorbed into the few surviving clubs that remained. Sam Mark moved to California to pursue other business opportunities. Mark’s Stadium was used by other clubs over the next couple of decades, before being turned into a drive-in theater. That theater was eventually torn down in the 1970s. Now there’s nothing but an empty field, overgrown with weeds and scrub trees; a ghostly symbol of what once was.

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For the most part, the ghosts of Fall River barely touch the awareness of modern American soccer fans. Most fans began their awareness in the 1990s with the emergence of MLS. Some older groups may remember the 1970s and the NASL, Pele and the Cosmos, but almost no one goes back to the old American Soccer League. The Marksmen were the greatest of a generation, maybe the greatest American soccer team of all-time in their brief heyday. Their memory has become the thing of legends and myths, almost unbelievable. But their ghosts linger, begging to be remembered.

- Dan Vaughn

Many thanks to TheCup.US for their amazing work, telling the story of soccer in this country. Their articles on Fall River Marksmen were used as sources in the writing of this article. I highly recommend their site if you want to go down the rabbit hole of US soccer history.