CMU Soccer ‘71-’74

I played on the Central Michigan University Men’s Soccer team for 4 years and I loved every minute of it! I started all four years at the center forward position…number 17! Here’s my stats for each year and career stats:

Freshman year (Fall 1971): Team 5-6-3. 9 goals, 4 assists (2nd in scoring). Spring season: Team 4-0. 12 goals (no assists were recorded for any Spring season games)

Sophomore year (Fall 1972): Team 10-5-1. 16 goals, 5 assists (1st in scoring). Spring season: Team 2-0. 7 goals.

Junior year (Fall 1973): Team 9-5-1. 17 goals, 9 assists in 9 games (out with eye injury for 6 games)…(1st in scoring). Spring season: Team 0-2. 1 goal.

Senior year (Fall 1974): Team12-2. 28 goals, 12 assists (1st in goals, assists and points). Did not play Spring season…graduated!

Team record for four years: 36-18-5. Career (53 games): 70 goals, 30 assists, 100 points. Including Spring season games: 90 goals.

CMU school record for goals in a game: 6 goals and 2 assists vs. Northwood 10-0, 1973 (scored 5 goals vs. Toledo 7-0, ‘74; 4 goals/2 assists vs. UM Dearborn 8-1, ‘74; 3 goals/3 assists vs. University of Michigan 8-1, ‘74; 4 goals vs. Saginaw Valley 7-1, ‘73; 4 goals vs. Northwood 10-3, ‘73; 4 goals vs. Alma ‘72; 3 goals/1 assist vs. Eastern Michigan University 6-1, ‘74; plus two other games with 3 goals.

CMU school record for goals in season (28), goals in career (70), points in season (28 goals + 12 assists=40 points), points in career (70 goals+30 assists=100 points).

UM Dearborn Invitational All Tournament Team '73, '74; Tournament Champions '74; Tournament Outstanding Player '74.

CMU Men’s Soccer MVP '74. Note…all records will never be broken because CMU dropped the men’s soccer team program.

Fall, 1974 team, senior year. One motley crew eh? Had a good year, won the UM Dearborn Invitational Tournament. Lots of stories to tell. In the photo, Claudia and her roommate Karen served as ballgirls for the team. Missing from the photo…Coach Jim Hornak. People have asked me if I was in a fraternity in college. Jokingly, I tell them I was in the I Felta Thigh fraternity…lol. Seriously, I didn’t need to join a fraternity…I was in TWO fraternities…the soccer team and the radio station! And I have to say, I never attended a fraternity party, but I did attend numerous soccer team and radio station parties…from what I can remember of them, they were awesome!

This was a special game! Duff said I was all over the field. I guess so as I scored 6 goals and had two assists…the most goals I ever scored in one game ever…and a CMU record to boot. And I assisted on two other goals on top of the one’s I scored. Cool! What cracks me up is the one goal I scored “laying flat on his back”.

Team photo, junior year, 1973.

Photo in the CM Life newspaper.

So here’s the story about getting injured. It happened at practice, not in a game. The ball was between me and the goal keeper who got to it first and kicked it instead of picking it up. That surprised me and the ball came right at my face and hit me in the eye quite hard. I couldn’t see out of that eye very well so someone took me to the urgent care and I was diagnosed with a rupture of the blood vessel in the eye. They treated it and I actually spent one night in the hospital looking like a pirate with an eye patch. They said the blood would eventually drain out of the eye and I should be OK after that. It did but I missed six games, doctor’s orders. I did wear eye protection goggles and did well in the Dearborn Invitational Tournament scoring four goals and being selected to the All Tournament Team.

Fall 1971, freshman year at Central. Photo taken in our backyard at Franklin.

With my good buddy Duff McAlpine who I played against in high school as he attended Birmingham Seaholm High School. We played four years together…he saw every one of my 70 goals…assisted on a bunch of them! Sadly, Duff died on July 22, 2021 in his home in Brighton Michigan at the age of 68. He had stayed at our condo for two nights in June and I talked with him on the phone July 15th. So many fond memories in a 50-year friendship! He was a groomsman in our wedding. And he was a text away when I needed someone to connect with. In high school, he was All-League 2nd Team. At CMU, Duff served as Captain of the ‘73 and ‘74 teams and was Coach of the ‘75 team. His senior year (1974), he scored 8 goals and had 8 assists for 16 points, 2nd on the team. As Coach, Duff got quoted a lot: “Besides McAlpine, the Chips expected to do the most damage are last year’s leading scorer Pete Bowers and Tom Webb. The Coach’s eyes light up whenever he talks about Bowers. “I like to think of myself as being a team leader, but Peter leads by example. He’s super, he has moves that people can’t believe. He’s just incredible. He’s unorthodox but he’s a potential All-American.” Miss you Duff!!

Team photo, sophomore year, 1972.

Fall, 1971, my freshman year at CMU. Duff McAlpine, second from right first row, played at Birmingham Seaholm High School, a team we played against when I played at Andover. He recognized me at the first practice…one of my best friends ever since!

I spent a lot of time on the ground playing soccer. They say soccer is best played on grass.

My beloved Adidas Super Light shoes! Scored 70 goals with these puppies…minus any goals I headed in!

My soccer uniform my junior year.

My jersey and shorts my senior year…number 17! The university retired my number…joke…the university retired all the numbers when they dropped the men’s soccer program at CMU.