My Indoor Soccer Hall Of Fame Ballot Took Five Minutes
In contrast to the process of filling out my National Soccer Hall of Fame ballot, my Indoor Soccer Hall of Fame ballot was a breeze. It’s only the second time we’ve made selections – the inaugural class of 12 was inducted two years ago. With so many deserving candidates and so few already in, the first few stabs at this will consist of Level I guys (the absolute best players ever). So I just went through the long ballot and picked the best six players and one coach who I felt were the best who didn’t get in the first class. (We were limited to a total of seven between players, coaches and administrators.) My picks are after the jump.
The 164 players up for consideration were:
Luis Alberto
Oscar Albuquerque
Craig Allen
Ian Anderson
Tony Bellinger
Beto
Sam Bick
Ralph Black
Chico Borja
David Brcic
Ernie Buriano
David Byrne
Jeff Cacciatore
Andy Chapman
Paul Child
Richard Chinapoo
Renato Cila
Tim Clark
Fernando Clavijo
Ade Coker
Ben Collins
Michael Collins
Lee Cornwell
Dan Counce
Bill Crook
Benny Dargle
Ricky Davis
Pedro DeBrito
Kaz Deyna
Gino DiFlorio
Enzo Dipede
Daryl Doran
Paul Dougherty
Mike Dowler
Helmut Dudek
Don Ebert
Pat Ercoli
Dale Ervine
Jorge Espinoza
Gary Etherington
Charlie Fajkus
George Fernandez
Joe Fink
Ken Fogarty
Mike Fox
Iain Fraser
Mark Frederickson
Keith Furphy
Jim Gabarra
Poli Garcia
Tony Glavin
Omar Gomez
Jan Goossens
Jim Gorsek
Karl-Heinz Granitza
Gerry Gray
Charley Greene
Fred Grgurev
Herve Guilliod
Kevin Handlan
Damir Haramina
Kai Hasskivi
Gary Heale
Waad Hirmez
Dave Hoggan
Slobo Ilijevski
Godfrey Ingram
Greg Ion
Bernie James
PJ Johns
Zoran Karic
Mark Karpun
George Katakalidis
Ali Kazemani
Alan Kelley
Ty Keough
Mark Kerlin
Kevin Kewley
Michael King
Pail Kitson
Tasso Koutsoukos
Jorgen Kristensen
Jacques Ladouceur
Redmond Lane
Mike Laschev
Doc Lawson
Stuart Lee
Marcio Leite
Tino Lettieri
Mark Liveric
Dave MacKenzie
Dave MacWilliams
Greg Makowski
Nick Mangione
Scott Manning
Pato Margetic
Hector Marinaro
Jim May
Alan Mayer
Wes McLeod
Nicky Megaloudis
Neil Megson
Dennis Mepham
Shep Messing
Juan Carlos Michia
Dale Mitchell
Gus Mokalis
Willie Molano
Chico Moreira
Victor Moreland
Cha Cha Namdar
Louie Nanchoff
Niki Nikolic
John O’Hara
Yilmaz Orhan
Joe Papaleo
Steve Pecher
Njego Pesa
Norman Piper
Jim Pollihan
Mike Powers
Preki
Brian Quinn
Frank Rasmussen
Erik Rasmussen
Neill Roberts
Bill Ronson
Carl Rose
Terry Rowe
Bruce Savage
Zoran Savic
Gino Schiraldi
Andy Schmetzer
Brian Schmetzer
Elson Seale
Jim Sinclair
Kevin Smith
Krys Sobieski
Mike Stankovic
John Stremlau
Damir Sutevski
Mike Sweeney
Alex Tarnoczi
Stan Terlecki
Freddie Thompson
Adam Topolski
Zoltan Toth
Keith Tozer
Val Tuksa
Mike Uremovich
Thompson Usiyan
Cris Vaccaro
Carl Valentine
Perry Van Der Beck
Keith Van Eron
Barry Wallace
Tim Walters
Peter Ward
Joey Waters
Gregg Willin
Alan Willey
Jean Willrich
Heinz Wirtz
Tim Wittman
Early on, there’s a pretty liberal qualification for the ballot, obviously. Most of those guys won’t get in, but we’ll let that shake out.
Five coaches were on the ballot:
David Clements
Gordon Jago
Pat McBride
Roy Turner
Peter Wall
And, finally, 12 administrators:
Jerry Buss
Lamar Hunt
John Kerr, Sr.
Terry Lieweke
Tim Lieweke
Dr. Joseph Machnik
Al Miller
Lee Stern
Ed Tepper
Doug Verb
Bart Wolstein
Phil Woosnam
My votes went to Doran, Illijevski, Marinaro, Preki, Quinn and Stankovic from the players and Jago from the coaches. Preki is the very best indoor player of that lot (he and Marinaro probably should have been first-ballot guys), in my mind, and he and Hector are the two obvious ones. Stankovic was a magician. Doran deserves the honor for playing (we think, records are a bit sketchy) more indoor games than anybody, playing forever, coaching while playing, and being a superb player and ambassador. And Slobo Illijevski is the best goalkeeper not yet enshrined.
So that was easy. I think the results will be announced soon, though I am not sure on the time frame.
Let me know who you’d vote for in the comments.
Tags: indoor soccer, soccer, soccer Hall of Fame
February 27th, 2013 at 5:39 pm
Kenn, this is a superb selection list you have named. The only one I see that I would consider as a switch is Borja/Stankovic. But it is very close imo between those two. Jago sticks out because of the success and the ambassador to me…
well done!
February 27th, 2013 at 7:45 pm
The deserving people (of which Borja is one) should all get in in fairly short order, I would think.
February 28th, 2013 at 5:38 am
Is it possible that you’re confusing Mike Stankovic (a great defender) with “Stan” Stamenkovic? When you use the word “magician,” Stamenkovic (deceased) comes to mind instantly. Both are worthy.
Your player selections are excellent.
Darryl Doran may well have played more professional indoor games than any player. He joined the Steamers not long after high school. His offensive and defensive skills enabled him to play multiple positions during his career.
Preki. That’s all you need to say.
Quinn & Marinaro were great players.
Slobo (deceased) redefined indoor goalkeeping. He was loved on and off the field, and a true original. Zoltan Toth may have been a better pure goalkeeper.
A worthy group. There are other defenders in addition to Stankovic (Val Tuska, Bernie James, Fernando Clavijo and others) that perhaps deserve more consideration.
Reading the list brought back many fond memories.
February 28th, 2013 at 5:58 am
Stamenkovic was The Magician (and deservedly got in via the first class). Stankovic was a great player as well (MISL All-Decade team, scored 292 indoor goals) and I think he’s deserving (obviously). Perhaps “magician” wasn’t the best term and perhaps I was influenced by Stan’s moniker.
Borja, James, Clavijo and others will, no doubt, get in.
With the seven-person limit, I had to make some choices, obviously. Zollie may very well have been a better pure goalkeeper. He’ll get in. I will vote for Shep, too, eventually.