THE STARS OF TACOMA : They’re the Talk of the Town, 6 Games Ahead of Sockers
Alan Hinton is playing it cagey. His Tacoma Stars are 17-4 in the Major Indoor Soccer League, six games ahead of the perennial champion Sockers in the Western Division.
“How can people talk about us being a champion when we’ve never won a division?” Hinton asked. “I still think San Diego will win the championship.”
However, the folks in Tacoma are talking about their soccer team.
The Stars were met by nearly 200 fans at Sea-Tac Airport Saturday when they returned from a successful East Coast trip. Home attendance has increased to an average of 11,052.
Interest hit a peak when the Sockers visited Dec. 27 and played in front of 18,441. That the Stars won, 6-5, in double overtime undoubtedly further piqued that peaking interest.
The Seattle daily papers are suddenly writing feature stories about Tacoma’s soccer team. “Go Stars” signs are hanging everywhere in a town where the Stars are the only major league team. The Stars are the talk of the town . . . and the league.
“I keep telling our guys,” Hinton said, “ ‘Isn’t it wonderful that people in our league are gunning for the Tacoma Stars?’ ”
Hinton and John Best, the Stars’ president, have put together this pride of Tacoma and scourge, so far, of the MISL.
Two games against the Sockers in December seem to exemplify the Stars’ emergence.
Playing without an injured Steve Zungul, the Stars beat the Sockers, 8-7, in San Diego Dec. 26. The next night, Zungul returned and scored the winning goal in the double-overtime victory in the Tacoma Dome.
“Our players showed their guts in those games,” Zungul said. “We showed that we can play with them.”
Those games have been far from unusual for the Stars. They are 11-0 in one-goal games and 6-0 in overtime.
“The attitude when we go into overtime is we’re going to win it,” Gerry Gray said. “We go in expecting to win, not just trying to win.”
By comparison, the the Sockers are 4-8 in one-goal decisions and 3-6 in overtime. That more than accounts for the gap in the standings.
Zungul was so pleased by the back-to-back overtime victories over his old teammates that he paid for a champagne party following practice on New Year’s Eve. Following the example of the New York Giants’ Harry Carson, Zungul doused the coach with beverage . . . in this case Hinton was hit with champagne.
When the Stars aren’t pulling pranks or winning games in dramatic fashion, they are caught up in controversy. In fact, they are defending themselves on two issues:
--The possibility of tampering with Socker midfielder Branko Segota. That is, any role Zungul might have played in Segota’s decision Dec. 16 not to sign a six-year, $1.25-million contract with the Sockers.
--The possibility that the Stars have violated the $1.275-million per team salary cap.
Zungul, Best, Hinton, Gray and Preki met with MISL Commissioner Bill Kentling last Wednesday in New York.
Kentling said he might render a decision by late this week or early next week. He also said there could be sanctions against the Stars, their coach, players or officials if the team is found guilty of tampering or violating the salary cap.
“It’s difficult to comment on,” Best said, “but my understanding is there was speculation and allegations floating around from other clubs in the league. And quite naturally, the commissioner was acting on them. We wanted to be cooperative in order to put any rumors to rest.”
Tacoma can consider this to be part of being a winner, since controversy seems a way of life for successful teams in the MISL. No one complains about losers.
“I think they’re for real,” said Socker Coach Ron Newman. “I think they have solid performers all over the place. And the brilliant Alan Hinton has put it together.”
Newman chuckled.
Hinton and Newman are not exactly buddies and are known for their barbs at one another’s expense.
“He’s (Newman) looked at my record in this league and the North American Soccer League,” said Hinton. “He knows I know how to build a winning team.”
Hinton and Best combined to take the Vancouver Whitecaps to the NASL playoffs in 1978 and the Seattle Sounders to the Soccer Bowl in 1982.
When the Stars were struggling with an 11-16 record in late January last season, Best decided to call on his old friend. Hinton was out of professional soccer.
“We blend well together,” Best said. “We’ve benefited from time. The blend has improved as we’ve learned more about one another. There’s more of a sharing of perspectives and views. That’s really valuable. It enables you to make more right decisions.”
Those right decisions have quickly turned a perennial loser into a winner.
“This club used to celebrate just losing,” Hinton said. “If they lost by one goal, they’d almost be happy. They didn’t know how to win here . . . When I joined John, this team was a joke. It was almost out of business.”
The Stars were in their third year of existence and they were struggling on the field and at the gate.
“It was time to either cut back and reduce financial losses,” Best said, “or deal with it in a positive sense and be effective as soon as possible.”
Not only did Best choose the latter course. He decided to shoot for the sky.
“I felt there was only one player in the league with the skills and leadership qualities who could make an overall impact immediately,” Best said.
That was Zungul, the most prolific scorer in the history of indoor soccer.
San Diego needed money and Socker managing general partner Bob Bell was concerned about the team salary cap that would take effect in the 1986-87 season. Tacoma was willing to pay the Sockers approximately $200,000 for Zungul. Thus, less than a week after Hinton took over as coach, the Zungul Era began.
With Zungul, the Stars went 11-8 and qualified for the playoffs by finishing third. Home attendance rose from near 7,000 to more than 10,000 a game. The Stars upset Wichita in the playoffs before losing to the Sockers in four games.
Zungul was both the star and the spirit of the young Stars.
“We needed discipline and needed somebody to lead our team,” said Preki, like Zungul a Yugoslav.
Last year, Zungul was counted on to score as much as to lead. This season, because of an injury to his hip joint, Zungul is not scoring as much.
Despite playing in such pain that he missed his first game in seven seasons, Zungul has 19 goals and 18 assists for 37 points.
“He’s contributed in a lot of ways,” Hinton said. “This year, he’s setting up more goals. He’s blocked shots and helped motivate the team. Steve has put the team above his own personal glory. It’s remarkable that a superstar will play hurt as often as he does.”
Last week, in the middle of a trip, Hinton told Zungul he could miss games in Baltimore and Kansas City and return to Tacoma to rest.
Instead, he scored the game-winner against Baltimore Thursday night and then six goals in a victory against the Comets Friday night following an 11-hour journey between cities.
Yet, Zungul, 32, says he is contemplating retirement after the season.
“It’s very hard to sleep and carry the pain every hour, every minute, every day,” Zungul said. “I couldn’t walk after a game against Dallas. I’m on pills (pain-killers). Without them, I cannot play.
“I don’t want to have to use a cane to walk when I stop playing. I prefer to have health on my side when I retire.”
Zungul has been helped considerably by the abundance of firepower around him. Zungul, Preki, Gary Heale and Godfrey Ingram have combined for 83 goals in 21 games.
Ingram was one of four new players signed in the off-season, the others being Gray, Joe Papaleo and Val Tuksa. All have immediately contributed. Tacoma has an improved defense and has gotten consistent goalkeeping from Papaleo and Peter Mowlik.
Although they are quite pleased and somewhat surprised by their extremely fast start, Hinton and his players are not using the word “championship” just yet.
Smart guy, this Hinton. Don’t wake a sleeping giant in the Sockers. But don’t tell the folks in Tacoma that this may not be a championship team.
