VEEE AS IN VANISHED : No Thanks for the Memories, Says Sockers’ Departed Star

Juli Veee, perhaps the greatest indoor soccer player ever, sat in his large two-bedroom house cluttered with paintings last week and talked about the sport he raised to an art form.

For the many fans who have seen him since he began playing outdoors with the Sockers 10 years ago, Veee has created with his feet. Indoors, especially, Veee produced masterpieces. Working on 200-by-85-foot strips of green inside arenas all over the country, Veee diagramed plays in his mind that few players could think of and executed them in ways that few players could stop.

Veee’s playmaking seemed as if it had come from some magic book, and Veee performed as if he were wearing a black cape and carrying a top hat. And then he’d raise his arms and listen for the applause.

“And now for my next trick . . . “

This summer, Sockers management waived its wand, and Veee was gone. At 38, his career was over.

There have been no tears. No “Hey, Juli, we loved you” speeches. No “thanks for the memories” responses from Veee.

Instead, there has been finger-pointing. Instead of magic capes, Veee has waved dirty laundry.

He’s upset because he says the Sockers ripped him off. Sockers President Ron Cady is upset because Veee has gone public with harsh accusations.

Veee won’t be in uniform tonight at the San Diego Sports Arena tonight when the Sockers open their season against the Los Angeles Lazers.

But he is not fading from memory quickly.

It happens all the time.

A player reaches the end of a glorious career. Dan Fouts. Steve Garvey. It’s not easy for anybody: not the front office, the player’s teammates or the fans.

But it happens. Usually, there are some tears, a fond sendoff and some terrific memories.

As far as Juli Veee is concerned, to hell with the memories.

The only artifact in his home that reminds him he was once a Socker is a letter tucked among some papers in a desk in his living room.

The letter, with a Sockers’ blue-and-yellow logo at the top, is dated June 28, 1988:

Dear Juli:

I am sorry to have to tell you that San Diego Indoor Soccer LP has notified me that your contract will not be one of those purchased if the sale is approved by the Bankruptcy Court on June 29, 1988.

We are deeply sorry that your contract is not included as you have played a significant part in the success of this franchise.

We wish you the best and can understand any disappointment that you may have.

Sincerely,

Ron Cady

President, Sockers Management Inc.

There has been no communication between Veee and the Sockers since.

“Look at this (letter),” Veee said mockingly. “Yeah, right. Thank you for helping keep the franchise alive. You are magnificent, Juli Veee. Look at it. That’s what I was (upset) about.”

Actually, he was upset about quite a bit more. The last contract Veee agreed to with the Sockers doesn’t run out until Nov. 15. But on June 30, Veee was cut off. No more money arrived. Ron Fowler, a San Diego businessman, bought a new team in the bankruptcy court, and Veee was not a part of the purchase. He says the team still owes him about $40,000.

“What they say is that the creditors come first,” Veee said. “Well, what am I? Aren’t I another creditor? I didn’t help build the thing up? What about me? What’s wrong with me as a creditor?”

He added: “The only problem was that (it’s like) they stole my money. That’s all. I mean, that’s a problem enough, isn’t it?”

As far as Cady is concerned, it shouldn’t be a problem. Business is business. Veee was just an unfortunate casualty in an unfortunate circumstance.

“He can say what he wants to say,” Cady said. “But we didn’t do anything different with him than we did with any of the other players who had contracts. We just weren’t able to pick everyone up.

“For some reason, he thinks he’s supposedly different from everybody. Yes, he accomplished a lot, and we would like to recognize him for that. But what’s more important? Juli Veee or soccer in San Diego?

“When we took over, we made the decision that no player, no coach and no anybody would or could be more important than the survival of the sport in this town. Keeping soccer in San Diego is all that is on our minds.”

Said Veee: “The only thing I’m bitter about is the way they treated me.

“I deserved better than that.”

Veee may never get his footprints on Hollywood Boulevard, but he was a shining star in the Major Indoor Soccer League. Through the league’s early seasons, Veee was a drawing card. He gave a lot to the game when nobody else cared.

He says he always has been that way.

“When I was 12 years old, I was in the movies,” Veee said. “But you know what I did? I gave it up. They threw me out. You know why they threw me out? Because I never showed up for rehearsal. I wanted to play soccer with my friends.”

Veee was good, even as a teen-ager. He played in his native Hungary in the best leagues. He could have been an Olympian. Instead, he chose to come to America.

He liked the challenge. He liked the adventure. He worked in machine shops and on shipping docks. That dulled the star.

“I worked in a shipyard on 105-degree days in San Pedro,” Veee said. “If that’s not an education for you, I don’t know what is. Tap dancing on a 2-inch-thick steel plate, at 10 o’clock, that’s already 100 degrees. After being pampered as a so-called star, that was an education, all right.”

But soccer was in his blood. He joined some club teams in Los Angeles and eventually signed to play outdoors with the Los Angeles Aztecs in 1975. He came to the Sockers in 1978 and played indoors and outdoors for them until 1984. His star burned brightest in 3 indoor seasons from 1982 to 1984, when he scored 152 goals. Then Bob Bell, the Sockers’ owner at the time, sold him to the Las Vegas Americans.

Bell needed money to keep the Sockers in San Diego, and Veee carried a high price tag. They held a ceremony in the Sports Arena and retired Veee’s No. 22.

A year later, he returned to the Sockers and the number was un-retired. By the time he had finished last season, he was far and away the franchise’s all-time scoring leader with 254 goals and 467 points. Branko Segota, with 376 points, is second.

“It’s such an idiotic expression, being a star,” Veee said. “What does being a star consist of? I did certain things I liked and was lucky to be a part of it. I had great supporting casts, and, of course, you get elevated to be something a little bit more special than working in a machine shop.”

So Juli Veee isn’t going quietly.

That shouldn’t be so surprising. He never has been much for being quiet.

Ask him a question. Then get ready to listen. He loves to speak his mind.

Last November, Veee got in a shouting match with assistant coach Johan Aarnio as the two walked off the field following a game in the Sports Arena. Veee, saying he was provoked, hit Aarnio. A 30-day suspension without pay followed.

Veee can be a bad boy.

“Just because I speak my mind, I don’t see how they can call me a bad boy,” Veee said. “Slavery was abolished years ago in this country. They just want clones.

“They don’t like me because of my mouth. They don’t like the way I act. These people are used to people who jump up and polish their boots. They see someone with a free sprit like me, I think it shocks them. They say it’s like a cancer. Get it out.”

Actually, they say no such thing.

“We had a business decision to make, and in order to save our Sockers and keep them in San Diego, certain things and players had to be sacrificed,” Cady said. “Juli was a terrific player, and it’s sad that he won’t be back this season. A lot of people were hurt. But that’s what was needed. We’ll have to live by that decision.”

Business is business, Cady says. Not so, says Veee.

“They say they got rid of me because it was a business decision,” Veee said. “A business decision in what respect? A business decision is to keep someone alive who has been there 10 years and can produce a little bit, you know?

“I just think that they originally said they weren’t going to re-sign me, and now I think they are ashamed of themselves.”

The artwork he created on the field for 10 years in San Diego is Juli Veee’s past. The paintings in a studio at his house in Kensington are his future.

Veee, despite this unhappy parting of the ways, will probably always be remembered fondly around here.

“You look at American football or you look at American baseball,” Veee said. “And the best sports buff will remember only a few of the owners. But they always remember the players.

“It’s like when my mom was watching a TV movie a year ago, and I was in it. But my name was blacked out. When I escaped from Hungary (in 1969), it was still a communist country. That’s why they blacked my name out. But I was in the picture. They couldn’t erase that.”

Because of the transition the franchise went through this past summer, there will now be “old” Socker records listed in the media guide, and “new” ones. Veee will be there with the old. Pushed aside, maybe, but not forgotten.

“You know, you cannot create magic,” Veee said. “You cannot force magic. You can’t create a star (like) Marilyn Monroe, or someone else. It has to happen somehow. And it happened in San Diego with the Sockers. More than anything, I think that is always going to be in the minds of our fans.”