Westmont College Athletics

By Ron Smith and Johnny Whallon
December 6, 2018
 
(IRVINE, Calif.) Forty-six years ago, Westmont Men's Soccer was king of the world. This past Saturday night, the 1972 NAIA National Champions were honored before the final game of the 2018 NAIA National Championship in Irvine. The ten members of the 1972 team who were in attendance were introduced and presented with scarves commemorating their accomplishments.
 
Present for the festivities were Gary Allison, Bill Crawford, Tom Dawson, Ray Devries, Lowell McCoy, Tim Quick, Ken Rediker, Dave Rice, Paul Tegenfeldt and John Paul Verhees.
 
"It has been a lot of fun," said Quick of the reunion with former teammates. "It has been great to be with the guys. It didn't take long for everyone to revert to the good old days and talk about the plays and some of the funny things that happened."
 
"When you see guys you haven't seen for 46 year, it makes it very special," said Verhees. "The group was such a great group because the chemistry was out of this world. They really played for each other, there was a team flavor, team chemistry, and we had the best defenders I think we have ever seen. Those guys were about quality. Gary Allison was an outstanding goalkeeper. As an attacking midfielder, it was a blessing to have such great defenders and great goalkeeping. It gave us a lot of options up front. It was a blend of missionary kids and foreign kids, but it was a real team with commitment and loyalty to one another."
 
The success of the 1972 team was remarkable. Their 16-1-1 record included victories over USC, Fresno State, UC Berkeley, San Diego State, Cal State Fullerton, UC Santa Barbara and Stanford.
 
"The caliber of schools we were playing was outstanding," said Tegenfeldt. "I think a lot of those schools were surprised that we were as good as we were, but we had a lot of missionary kids who grew up in soccer cultures."
 
The team's only tie was to UCLA, though 46 years later at least one member of the squad refuses to accept that result.
 
"The game was tied 1-1 and Lloyd Gay took a shot that went into the net as the horn went off," said Crawford. "The referee ruled that the ball had not crossed the plane of the net when the horn went off and disallowed the goal, but to us it was a victory."
 
The team was coached by Russ Carr (202-106-31), seven years into his 17-year stint as Westmont's head coach.
 
"My greatest memories of Westmont are of Russ Carr," said Crawford. "I made some life decisions at Westmont. He drove and met me and we sat on a park bench and talked for hours. I came to Westmont in 1970. In the summer of '71, I was invited to go overseas with Youth for Christ to speak in 26 countries of the world. I went with a musical team and I was the wrapper upper. It was such an awkward decision about whether I should go because I had to take a year off of school. Russ was so helpful. He told me he couldn't guarantee anything when I came back, but there is no classroom in the world that will teach what I would learn visiting those countries and having those experiences."
 
Crawford returned in time to rejoin the team for the 1972 season.
 
After completing the regular season, Westmont defeated Biola and Whittier to win the NAIA District III Playoffs and earn a spot in the national tournament, which, that year was held in Dunn, North Carolina.
 
"Half the team drove and half the team flew," said Verhees. "We were sometimes with six or seven people in a hotel room."
 
"I remember riding in Checkers (taxis) and bag lunches," said Devries about road trips in 1972. "It seemed like a simpler time, the way we travelled around. Our meals on the road were bag lunches. We had to make a bologna sandwich before we hopped in the Checkers to go down to LA.
 
"Russ Carr had this thing where we couldn't eat French fries. So, when we stopped on the road to have a hamburger, he would say, 'No French fries'. He had this theory that if you ate fried food it would hurt your conditioning. It became a bonding moment and became something we rallied around."
 
"We all bought those hats Russ Carr used to wear to go back to nationals and all wore those," remembered Crawford about making the trip to Dunn.
 
Once the team reunited in Dunn, the Warriors found a warm reception in the frigid conditions.
 
"The town kind of adopted us because we were from California," said Crawford. "So, we had the stands filled with people who had no association with Westmont, but they picked us to root for."
 
Field conditions, however, were less than ideal.
 
"We played on a field that was like a cow pasture," said Tegenfeldt. "It was actually a high school field, but we had gotten all sorts of snow and they had put kerosene on it and burned off the snow, so it was like a mud field."
 
"They had a helicopter trying to dry it," remembered Verhees. "Our mentality was that it didn't matter about the elements because both teams had the elements. Our mindset was just great. I remember having mud on my legs and on my pants. I took a shower and it wouldn't come off because of the oil. So, winning a national championship in those elements was very unique."
 
"In the semifinal game against Quincy, our coach relayed to us that one of the NAIA officials told him that he had never seen a game in which the passing had been so crisp and so good," said Tegenfeldt. "Given the conditions, that was quite a compliment."
 
The Warriors beat Fredonia (N.Y.) in the quarterfinals by a score of 3-0 before taking on Quincy (Ill.) whom they dispatched 2-0. The championship game against Davis & Elkins (W.Va.) went to overtime before Verhees scored in the first overtime period to give Westmont a 2-1 victory and give the school its first national title.
 
Though he never took the field in 1972, Dave Rice witnessed, "the grit of the team to survive and pull it out with an overtime win in those conditions. Gary Allison had a phenomenal tournament – that is why he was MVP. He made some amazing saves."
 
Rice was a red shirt for the 1972 season.
 
"It was frustrating," said Rice of watching from the sidelines. "I spent my first two years at what is now Point Loma Nazarene – Pasadena Nazarene. They didn't have a soccer program. I grew up in Taiwan along with Tim Quick. I played basketball at Pasadena Nazarene my freshman year and tried to start a soccer program, but there were not quite ready yet. I told Tim about Westmont after his first year in Missouri, so he transferred over his sophomore year. Then I came in my junior year, that is why I had to red shirt. I practiced with the team all year, but I had to play JV. But, I was with them pretty much at all the games and I travelled with them at nationals."
 
Nonetheless, Rice appreciated the opportunity to reunite with old teammates.
 
"It has been awesome," said Rice. "It has been really cool to see everyone come together and relive the memories. It is cool that they chose the national tournament to honor the team. It is a good for Westmont and good for all the guys here."
 
"It's great to be back," agreed Devries. "It's been 40-plus years, but it absolutely does not seem like it. But it looks like it when we look at each other."
 
"It was a remarkable experience to connect with some guys, most of whom I haven't seen in 46 years," said Tegenfeldt. "Significant parts of our lives have passed, but in some ways, it is like being back with the team with similar kinds of feelings and experiences. Not only to connect with memories, but there is a connection at a deeper level that I find particularly meaningful and special to me. I am very thankful for this group and this experience."