"The game I'll never forget": Bob Rigby remembers the 1973 Championship Game

Reunion: After all these years, you can't split these Atoms

"Players have a tendency to remember their good games and forget the bad ones. The one I'll never forget was a very good game because we won the NASL championship.

"I'm going back to 1973 for this one. I was with the Philadelphia Atoms and it was the team's first year in the league and my first year out of college. At the start of the season most people figured we wouldn't do too well, maybe win a couple of games and just do our best to survive. But we won our division and made it to the championship game, where we beat the Dallas Tornado, 2-0.

"The thing I remember about the team is that we had a strong American flavor, which is unusual today, but was very unusual 10 years ago [note: this interview took place in 1983]. The other teams were heavily dependent on foreign players and coaches, many of whom were on loan from British clubs. But we had an American coach, Al Miller, and at least six or seven American players who had started during the regular season.

"In the championship game we had five Americans on the field for most of the time: myself in goal, Bob Smith, [Billy] Straub, [Charlie] Duccilli, and Barry Barto. We also had a few other [American players] on the roster who saw action, including Casey Bahr, Lew Meehl, and Stan Startzell, so you can tell what the league office calls "Americanization" was big in Philadelphia that season. The league figured that because we did so well with so many Americans other teams would do the same. But it simply didn't work out that way.

"We played Dallas twice in the regular season, tying them [0-0] in Philadelphia and beating them [2-1] in Dallas. They had a strong team that year and won their division, as well as finishing with the best record [11-4-4] in the league. Kenny Cooper was their goalie and their top scorers were Kyle Rote Jr. and Ilija Mitic. The funny thing that season was that Rote won the scoring title and I finished with the best goals-against average in the league. As far as I know, that was the only time those two categories were won by American-born players.

"The fans in Philadelphia were very supportive that season. I think there were more than 21,000 at our opening game and about 18,000 for our [semifinal] playoff game. It's something when you're a rookie and you come out to play and 20,000 people are cheering you on.

"The NASL didn't have shootouts at that time and we ended up with nine wins and about eight ties [9-2-8]. We lost the first game of the season to St. Louis, then we tied Dallas in our home opener. After that, we lost only once more the entire season, I think on the road in Miami. St. Louis and New York had been in the championship game the season before, when the Cosmos won their first league title. We had that one loss to St. Louis, then beat them at home in the final game of the year. We didn't lose any to New York; I think we beat them in Philadelphia and tied them twice. So we were playing well all season.

"Our [semifinal] game was at home against Toronto. We were very confident coming in and beat them, 3-0. Still, going into the final game, no one gave us much of a chance.

"I don't remember many specifics about the game, but I do remember that our emotions and energy levels were very high. The title game was being played in Dallas, and as we came onto the field I felt as if we could run through the Dallas Cowboys. I've had some good games since then, but I don't remember being as good as I was that day, at least not at that level. Dallas threw everything at me and I stopped them.

"In addition to our being underdogs, two of our top scorers were unable to play for us. Both players--Andy Provan and Jim Fryatt--were on loan from England, and both had to return prior to the finals. Provan was our leading scorer with something like 10 goals [11 goals, 6 assists, 28 points]; Fryatt was up there in scoring, too [7-3-17]. Dallas had lost two or three of their loan players, as well, but they still had Rote [the 1973 Rookie of the Year] and Mitic up front.

"We were fired-up at the start of the game, but Dallas was at home in front of 18,000 fans, so they were able to take some of the momentum away. Still, it was fairly even for a half and wound up being 0-0.

"In the locker room, we figured that if we stayed with our game plan and forced Dallas to make mistakes we could do well. About 15 minutes into the half, Dallas did make a mistake that put us ahead. We were pressing into their half and passing the ball near their goal when the ball hit [Dallas centerback] John Best and went into the net to give us a 1-0 lead. I was at the opposite end of the field and when the ball went past Cooper all of our guys went crazy. The Dallas players were stunned, and the fans went completely silent. It was as if 18,000 mouths had dropped open as one, totally speechless.

"Dallas pressed into our end a few times after that, but our defense kept them from doing any damage. We put the game away when Straub scored our second goal with less than five minutes to play.

"After the game all our players got totally drunk. Emotionally, I was as high as I'll ever be. It was a great feeling to win the title, especially as a rookie. The problem was that it happened too fast.

"It may sound strange, but I think a lot of negative things came out of that championship season. Our success came too fast. We did so well--you can't do better than winning your division and then winning the championship--that people expected us to do it again next season. We had a great season, but we couldn't match it again. I was with Philadelphia another two seasons before joining the Cosmos and we missed the playoffs both seasons.

"Another problem was that our success gave people the wrong idea about American players. People who wanted more Americans on the field--and I'm one of them--pointed to our roster and said, 'See, they won the title with all those American players. Every team should do that.' But a lot of the American kids were not ready for the pros.

"Still, I can look back at that team with great pride because we played together and won the championship. I've been on the field for a lot of games since then, but that game will always be special to me."

(as told to Barry Janoff. Originally printed in Soccer Digest, May 1984)

Back to the main page