You can trace the growth of soccer in America by tracking Sigi Schmid’s arc in the sport.
Schmid died Tuesday at the age of 65 at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center while waiting for a heart transplant.
Obituaries correctly identified him as the coach who won three NCAA soccer championships at UCLA and as the biggest winner in Major League Soccer history with 266 victories during two runs with the Galaxy as well as with Columbus and Seattle.
But he was much more.
He was a soccer-in-America pioneer.
He was a missionary.
He was an advocate, a mentor and a leader.
He was among those who led the way as soccer grew from where, if it was in the spots section at all it was on the back page, and frequently only in agate type, to where it is not a surprise when it commands a spot on page one.
German born but raised in America, having arrived here at the age of 4, Schmid grew up in Torrance.
An example of the state of soccer a half century or so ago is provided by the 1971 Bishop Montgomery High graduate’s prep athletic career. He was limited to the track team because the school saw no need to have a soccer team. Today it is not unusual if more freshmen sign up for a high school soccer team than for the football team.
He played on an original AYSO team in 1964 and on club or semi-pro teams until he enrolled at UCLA. He became a college star with the Bruins, even if the star was not all that bright because of the lack of attention a sport not requiring hand-eye coordination generated.
Schmid and another Bishop Montgomery High grad, Marine Cano, now the Cal State University Dominguez Hills woman’s coach, returned to their alma mater in 1974 to coach the first Knights boy’s team.
As a young scholar, Schmid earned an undergraduate degree in economics from UCLA and a USC masters in business administration. In keeping with his generally what-me-worry? demeanor, he called himself an accountant, suggesting that if this coaching thing went sideways he always could go back to crunching numbers as a Certified Public Accountant.
But he was a soccer lifer, always willing, even eager, to talk about the finer points as well as the basics of his sport with coaches, players, fans and a journalist who grew up on baseball, basketball and football.
Go back to his years coaching at UCLA, sitting in his office in the old J.D. Morgan athletic building. Actually, make that sitting in his cubicle. In another sign of the times for the sport, that’s all they had for the Bruin soccer program in those days.
Those who derided his ability to coach, as they derided American-trained coaches, did not get it. The young coach was a sponge.
He talked about how fortunate he was to learn so much by working in the same athletic department with John Wooden, the famed basketball coach, and Terry Donahue, an extremely successful football coach.
Then there was his time as an assistant coach during the 1994 World Cup. Beyond providing a bold line on his resume, this was yet another opportunity, an opportunity to learn from Bora Milutinovic, the unconventional and at the same time wise coach of the U.S. National Team.
He put what he learned to good use while coaching during five decades, winning those three NCAA championships, five U.S. Open Cups (a tournament open to all professional teams in the country), three MLS Supporters Shields (best regular-season record), two MLS Cups (league championship) and a CONCACAF (North America, Central America and Caribbean) title.
The natural result of success at this level is an abundance of confidence.
That confidence never spilled over into cocky.
He was just Sigi.
He loved telling you his father, well into retirement, still refereed soccer matches and rode his bike to Alpine Village to have a beer.
The tone of his voice told you this helped keep him balanced over the years.
“I don’t know if experience necessarily brings wisdom,” he once said.
It was one of his typical don’t-pump-me-up-too-much statements.
“I think to a certain extent it brings some calm,” he added calmly.
That was a typical quiet show of Sigi Schmid’s wisdom.
Clearing out the mini-notebook:
Question — How long will Baltimore rookie Lamar Jackson last as a QB if he thinks he can attack defenses like RBs Todd Gurley and Melvin Gordon? …
Medical matters — Doc Rivers on a medical report a while back that Lou Williams did not have a bad hamstring injury: “I’ve never heard of a good one.” The same could be said about a groin injury. …
Bottom line — Baseball should be ashamed for watering down the Hall of Fame. Yes, this concerns Harold Baines, a good player never previously mistaken for the likes of Hall of Fame players ranging from Babe Ruth to George Brett, etc. Baines squeezes in the backdoor via a committee formed to lower the bar in the misguided interest of marketing MLB.
Mike Waldner can be reached at Mwsptcol@aol.com.
