SOCCER at Lehman College [1972 - 1976]
The 1972 Lehman soccer season proved to be a very encouraging one. see PHOTO Album
Lehman College is located in the far reaches of the Bronx, New York and journeying by the Lexington Express to and fro felt like traveling out of New York state each morning.. The #'s 4 or 5 on the Woodlawn Avenue route became a mainstay travel route for nearly ten years. Sterling Street Eastern Parkway Atlantic Avenue Borough Hall, Bowling Green, Astor Place...14th Street Grand Central 59th Street 86th Street 125th Street 149thSt and Grand Concourse 161st and River Avenue Yankee Stadium ..176 Mt. Eden..180th and Grand Concourse...196th St and Kingsbridge Avenue... Bedford Park Boulevard
The composition of the soccer team at Lehman was multi-cultural much the same way the Erasmus team was ...this in the era of the immigrant player being the dominant presence in soccer in America. The coach appointed 3 leaders ...he called it tri-captains...Named one of three captains [tri-captains] for Varsity team was Senior and goal keeper Steve Goldman (Jewish), Junior and midfielder Dominic De viva (Italian) and myself ( Freshman Jamaican) were responsible for maintaining harmony in this multi-racial, multi-cultural team. Italians, Jamaicans, and Haitians were the dominant ethnic groups in the team. Our coach Les Solney was of Polish extract.
I began my first college season playing as a forward.
MVP trophy to Steve Goldman create controversy as many spectators and supporters including players felt that I was a better candidate…the coach however felt that Goldman was in his senior year and deserved the MVP award based on his leadership. I was almost sucked into the controversy as many recommended that I boycott the team next year as the coach showed bias to his long time 'captain'. I was told by Coach Solney that being only a freshman would afford me more opportunities to capture the coveted award. It was a hard pill to digest but after working with Coach Solney during the summer had made me confident in his words and personal reflection on the controversy created showed that the soccer potential within was coming out...if not being rewarded in the immediate...showed great promise for the seasons to come. Romero was selected to join the College All Star trials set for City College in Manhattan and I hoped to go along with him to see for myself what these All Stars looked like.
ALL STAR GAME and ALVA JOY
Attending sessions every week was a religion...traveling by subway to the far reaches of the tri-state area...partying and girls-ing it out was a norm....however there was a small group consisting of Joy , and Pam and her brother Michael that I had met in the cafeteria on a few occasions. Pam was a light skinned high pitched voiced girl with her soft spoken brother Michael. Joy was a friend of Pam and produced a level of resonance in IMAN system... Going to a school session one night in the Bronx brought me into my first close encounter with Joy. It was a Friday night with the Saturday morning set for All Star trials at City College and my first look in at the level of star players in the college league ... as players vied for selection to the College All Star team...which played its annual game against New York’s professional team, the COSMOS.
ALVA JOY was a beauty to behold...nicely and impressively built with a nice space between teeth...and felt good holding while dancing. I never went to Brooklyn after the session and spent the rest of the night at Romeo’s gates in the Bronx. In the morning after much partying the night before we trudged down to CCNY where over 30 players were engaged in stretching and warming up exercises
Romeo was an All Star invitee and already had a reputation as an outstanding striker. I was ill prepared for the ‘mental’ rigors of a 'trial'....this being my first All Star team trial. I never made the College All Star team on my first attempt as 'nerves' overtook me and simple stopping and controlling of the ball left me...mi mean seh ball all roll thru mi foot dem…much of myself caught up in contemplation on the events of the last night...the party, the session and Joy.
Joy lived in the Bronx and I lived in Brooklyn. I could have been the most traveled person in NYC moving on the subways between Sterling St and 149th St. I recall Joy getting a job at Alexanders’ Department store at 59th St. and would leave Manhattan to come to my house in Brooklyn after work for our regular 'battering sessions' then I would accompany her home to the Bronx...passing way beyond 59th St...dat was nuff nuff train riding.
On one of these frequent journeys I met the Spanish speaking 'drunk'[ on the train at 125th St giving praises to Satan...who he claimed never opposed him and .who grants him his every wish...this was an alarming train of thought but one which I would ponder on for years to come.
The 1973 team saw me becoming the full team captain of the Lehman College Booters...and would lead the team for the next three seasons. Romeo abandoned his soccer career at Lehman and began his experiment with music (saxophone). This would see him transfer to Bronx Community College to pursue his new found love.
The Lehman team texture was basically Italian and Caribbean...with the Italian players John Russo, Giuseppe Piccolo, Dominic deViva, et al and Caribbean players Neville Gordon, Vaughn Scanterbury, Owen Lee, Courtney Brown, et al. along with two Greek and a Yugoslav player.
Season number three was a real “Pitchy patchy” season with team lacking in consistency in training and in results. Pleasantly surprising I was named to the Metropolitan College All Star Team for the first time and given All Metropolitan 2nd Team 1974 Division 1 honors. This award provided an important ‘fillip’ in the quest for success at the college level.
The 1972 Lehman soccer season proved to be a very encouraging one. see PHOTO Album
Lehman College is located in the far reaches of the Bronx, New York and journeying by the Lexington Express to and fro felt like traveling out of New York state each morning.. The #'s 4 or 5 on the Woodlawn Avenue route became a mainstay travel route for nearly ten years. Sterling Street Eastern Parkway Atlantic Avenue Borough Hall, Bowling Green, Astor Place...14th Street Grand Central 59th Street 86th Street 125th Street 149thSt and Grand Concourse 161st and River Avenue Yankee Stadium ..176 Mt. Eden..180th and Grand Concourse...196th St and Kingsbridge Avenue... Bedford Park Boulevard
The composition of the soccer team at Lehman was multi-cultural much the same way the Erasmus team was ...this in the era of the immigrant player being the dominant presence in soccer in America. The coach appointed 3 leaders ...he called it tri-captains...Named one of three captains [tri-captains] for Varsity team was Senior and goal keeper Steve Goldman (Jewish), Junior and midfielder Dominic De viva (Italian) and myself ( Freshman Jamaican) were responsible for maintaining harmony in this multi-racial, multi-cultural team. Italians, Jamaicans, and Haitians were the dominant ethnic groups in the team. Our coach Les Solney was of Polish extract.
I began my first college season playing as a forward.
MVP trophy to Steve Goldman create controversy as many spectators and supporters including players felt that I was a better candidate…the coach however felt that Goldman was in his senior year and deserved the MVP award based on his leadership. I was almost sucked into the controversy as many recommended that I boycott the team next year as the coach showed bias to his long time 'captain'. I was told by Coach Solney that being only a freshman would afford me more opportunities to capture the coveted award. It was a hard pill to digest but after working with Coach Solney during the summer had made me confident in his words and personal reflection on the controversy created showed that the soccer potential within was coming out...if not being rewarded in the immediate...showed great promise for the seasons to come. Romero was selected to join the College All Star trials set for City College in Manhattan and I hoped to go along with him to see for myself what these All Stars looked like.
ALL STAR GAME and ALVA JOY
Attending sessions every week was a religion...traveling by subway to the far reaches of the tri-state area...partying and girls-ing it out was a norm....however there was a small group consisting of Joy , and Pam and her brother Michael that I had met in the cafeteria on a few occasions. Pam was a light skinned high pitched voiced girl with her soft spoken brother Michael. Joy was a friend of Pam and produced a level of resonance in IMAN system... Going to a school session one night in the Bronx brought me into my first close encounter with Joy. It was a Friday night with the Saturday morning set for All Star trials at City College and my first look in at the level of star players in the college league ... as players vied for selection to the College All Star team...which played its annual game against New York’s professional team, the COSMOS.
ALVA JOY was a beauty to behold...nicely and impressively built with a nice space between teeth...and felt good holding while dancing. I never went to Brooklyn after the session and spent the rest of the night at Romeo’s gates in the Bronx. In the morning after much partying the night before we trudged down to CCNY where over 30 players were engaged in stretching and warming up exercises
Romeo was an All Star invitee and already had a reputation as an outstanding striker. I was ill prepared for the ‘mental’ rigors of a 'trial'....this being my first All Star team trial. I never made the College All Star team on my first attempt as 'nerves' overtook me and simple stopping and controlling of the ball left me...mi mean seh ball all roll thru mi foot dem…much of myself caught up in contemplation on the events of the last night...the party, the session and Joy.
Joy lived in the Bronx and I lived in Brooklyn. I could have been the most traveled person in NYC moving on the subways between Sterling St and 149th St. I recall Joy getting a job at Alexanders’ Department store at 59th St. and would leave Manhattan to come to my house in Brooklyn after work for our regular 'battering sessions' then I would accompany her home to the Bronx...passing way beyond 59th St...dat was nuff nuff train riding.
On one of these frequent journeys I met the Spanish speaking 'drunk'[ on the train at 125th St giving praises to Satan...who he claimed never opposed him and .who grants him his every wish...this was an alarming train of thought but one which I would ponder on for years to come.
The 1973 team saw me becoming the full team captain of the Lehman College Booters...and would lead the team for the next three seasons. Romeo abandoned his soccer career at Lehman and began his experiment with music (saxophone). This would see him transfer to Bronx Community College to pursue his new found love.
The Lehman team texture was basically Italian and Caribbean...with the Italian players John Russo, Giuseppe Piccolo, Dominic deViva, et al and Caribbean players Neville Gordon, Vaughn Scanterbury, Owen Lee, Courtney Brown, et al. along with two Greek and a Yugoslav player.
Season number three was a real “Pitchy patchy” season with team lacking in consistency in training and in results. Pleasantly surprising I was named to the Metropolitan College All Star Team for the first time and given All Metropolitan 2nd Team 1974 Division 1 honors. This award provided an important ‘fillip’ in the quest for success at the college level.
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