The article on the little known history of App State soccer was a very interesting read. I knew a little bit about Thompson Usiyan, but I knew pretty much nothing about the rest of the program’s history, especially when it came to how dominant they were in the SoCon in the 70’s. The first thing about the article that jumped out to me was the almost chilling piece of foreshadowing at the beginning of the piece: “Today, some fear that the history will be forgotten, or worse, the program will cease to exist.” It put a little bit of a damper on the rest of the article for me knowing that the worst fears of the people featured in the article would be realized just 5 years later. The next thing that stood out to me was just how much Vaughn Christian did to build the program from the ground floor in the early 70’s. The article states, “Christian inherited a soccer program that was founded by Dr. Eric DeGroat, who coached from 1961 to 1969. DeGroat didn’t believe in recruiting outside the App student body and thought of winning as more or less a byproduct of playing the game…” I know soccer in the United States wasn’t what it is now back then in terms of prestige and importance, but it’s stunning to me that the first coach of the program didn’t even recruit, and it’s even more stunning to me that Christian took that team and turned it into a powerhouse so quickly. The article left me very impressed with the job Christian did. The last thing that really stuck with me was just how popular the team was during its heyday. The article states, “More than 3,500 were in attendance for App State to host and win its first playoff match in 1978, and by the time Usiyan graduated in 1980, it wasn’t unheard of for 5,000 or 6,000 people to attend home soccer games, according to former coaches and players.” That fact is amazing to me because football is the only App State sport that draws more than 5,000 people per game today. The basketball team doesn’t even draw that well. It’s amazing to me that the soccer team had that many fans coming to games in an era when soccer was way less popular and App’s student body was way smaller.
