REMEMBERING PETE ROSE

The night of Dec. 22, 1978 already was going to be a special one for 21-year-old Keith Tozer.

Not only was the former Oneonta State standout going to play in his first professional soccer game at the Nassau Coliseum, but he was also going to be a part of history in the very first pro indoor soccer game in the United States.

The event was the inaugural match of the fledgling Major Indoor Soccer League as his Cincinnati Kids were to face the New York Arrows.

There was plenty of excitement at the Uniondale, N.Y. arena because of the new league, new sport and new teams.

Before the first ball was kicked, the most ruckus was made by someone from another sport who had never played soccer before – the Pete Rose.

Pete Rose, Major League Baseball's all-time hit leader, who passed away on Monday at the age of 83.

In the middle of his legendary career, Rose had just signed with the Philadelphia Phillies after leading the Cincinnati Reds to a pair of World Series championships. He had become part owner of the Kids, and wanted to attend the historic event.

"Being just 21 years old, having Pete as an owner, and having him at the training facility, and having him on the airplane and having him that opening night was kind of surreal," said Tozer, the Major Arena Soccer League commissioner today. "We had him in the locker room before the game. He was telling all of us about being athletes and making history. It was going to be a history night, the first game in this league. He was excited about it. Obviously, his personality was bigger than life itself."

Indeed, and then some.

"It was a very interesting time for me," Tozer added. "I mean, I found out I was drafted in November, and then a month or so later playing the Nassau Coliseum with Pete, who at that time is one of the top players, and then playing against Shep [Messing], who I really didn't know at the time, because he was playing for the Cosmos. So, it was kind of like all this stuff happening. It was pretty wild. It was a magical time."

The Arrows promoted the game in an advertisement in Newsday, a Long Island newspaper, with Messing's picture that stated:

Hi! I'm Shep Messing, proud and excited to be playing our first game, Friday, Dec. 22, 8 P.M. against Pete Rose's Cincinnati Kids.

Even without playing a game, Messing was considered the biggest name in the indoor game at the time, having backstopped the New York Cosmos and Pele to the 1977 North American Soccer League title. Remember, this was prior to Steve Zungul gaining the reputation as the game’s most dangerous player in the MISL as "Lord of All Indoors."

Rose, however, was the main attraction that Friday night for obvious reasons.

"The amount of media was crazy," Tozer said. "Everywhere he went, that was my first real time and being around a superstar, and just the level of frenzy he created in the media. That was probably the biggest thing. I was like, 'Wow, this is huge. That's happening right now.' And the second thing is, he was really gracious to all of us, even though he had this persona about him, a bigger than life personality.

"He definitely did not lack confidence whatsoever. But he was extremely nice to all of us and appreciated us playing for him. So, between the amount of media that wanted to get to him, and at the same time, being gracious to us, it made for a magical moment for me to be on the field and see him kick out the ball and Shep on the other side. It was crazy."

Quite appropriately, Rose kicked out the ceremonial ball at midfield to Messing.

Dr. Joe Machnik, the lone referee, said that he did not know there would be a pregame ceremony until commissioner Earl Foreman and deputy commissioner Ed Tepper walked out onto the field with Pete Rose, “who was obviously recognizable to everyone. I mean, he's the biggest baseball player going on at the time.”

 “He had an iconic look about himself. Everybody knew what he looked like. Then he kicked the ball to Shep. He was to my left, and so if he miskicked it, it would have went to me.”

Well, not everyone at the Nassau Coliseum was excited about Rose, who was given a Bronx cheer by Long Island fans.

“When they announced Pete Rose, they were against him,” Arrows head coach Dragan (Don) Popovic told Newsday. “They booed him. I told him afterward, ‘It’s a different kind of game.’ “

Rose understood that, even if he was a newcomer to the sport.

He was quoted by the Associated Press that if he had played the game, "I’d like to be a goalie. That’s where the action is. Besides, goalies make the most money.”

Rose was given a tip by his agent, Reuven Katz to invest in the Kids.

“With 10 partners, you don’t jump in with the intention of making lots of money,” he said. “I’m just a fan like anybody else. I might be the biggest sports fan in America.”

He was not surprised that the league’s inaugural game drew a crowd of 10,386.

“I think they’ll like this game,” he told AP. “It’s continuous action and they average between 50 and 60 shots. It’s nothing like outdoor soccer. That would be like comparing college basketball ball and the pros. Outdoor soccer is all defense. This is all offense. People like high-scoring games.

“In baseball, you want a 9-8 game, unless you’re a pitcher.”

Rose sat next to MISL commissioner Earl Foreman during the game, which was won by the Arrows, 7-2, as Zungul scored four goals.

“He jumped up and down when his club scored, and when he thought a penalty should have been called, he started to yell at the official,” Foreman told United Press International. “He gives anything he’s a part of everything he’s got.”

But there was certainly a steep learning curve or two for the league.

Tozer said that game officials would “have to go over to this book that was loose leaf papers and try to figure out what the call was. Remember, these rules were just created. There really wasn't a manual."

Interesting aside: Machnik, who eventually became MISL director of referees, said that he made and wrote the rules as the season went along because there were situations that were not covered by indoor soccer rules given to the league by the U.S. Soccer Federation.

It certainly didn't hurt that Tozer played ice hockey and was accustomed to the dimensions of an indoor soccer field.

"I felt really kind of comfortable," he said. "I felt comfortable around the boards. I felt comfortable basically with the rules. They were just being made up. We had power plays and we had man downs, but I kind of took to it. And at the same time, there was Shep on the other end. And from watching him at the Meadowlands so many times, I was a goal-scorer in Oneonta, a goal-scorer in high school, there's nothing more that I wanted to do than to score against him. If I could score against him, that would be like icing on the cake."

There was no icing that night for Tozer.

Rose attended Kids' practices at the War Memorial, where the ground was concrete, and at games.

"The media would follow him," Tozer said. "He, a lot of times, would sit behind our bench with his sons, and come in the locker room briefly thereafter. He used to own a place called Sleep Out Louie's, which was at the top of a hotel in downtown Cincinnati. We would go there for post-game parties. He would come in there a lot. He loved the music."

Cincinnati finished the season in third place among six teams, tying the Arrows with a 16-8 record. In the playoff semifinals, they lost to the Arrows, 9-4, and New York went on to win the first of four consecutive championships.

Coached by Len Bilous, the Kids had several names on their roster that would be known to the American soccer community, including goalkeepers Keith Van Eron of Huntington, N.Y. and Roy Messing of Roslyn, N.Y., defenders Buzz Demling, John Kowalski, Doc Lawson and David D'Errico, midfielder Ty Keough and forwards Doug Wark, Gene Geimer and Tozer.

The southern Ohio side wasn't as successful on the field, averaging only 3,191 fans a game at Riverfront Coliseum that season.

The team folded after that one season.

In contrast, Tozer's career had just begun.

He went on to play with the Hartford Hellions and Pittsburgh Spirit in the league and the Louisville Thunder and Atlanta Attack of the American Indoor Soccer Association (eventually became the National Professional Soccer League). With Louisville, Tozer started a long and successful coaching career in the indoor game. He guided the Milwaukee Wave to six titles, becoming the winningest indoor soccer coach (750 victories) before becoming head coach of the U.S. national futsal team.

Today, he is the MASL commissioner. And as a matter of irony, he and Messing are working together as the latter is league chairman.

They got to know each other back in the day. When Tozer played with the Hellions, he visited Studio 54, the trendiest night club and night spot at the time, with Messing after an Arrows game at Madison Square Garden.

"I'm walking into Studio 54 behind Shep," he said. "It was like Jesus, what's going on? So, fast forward 35-40 years to be with Shep now, it's been great. Actually, we do talk a lot about the old days. Not only indoor soccer, but the NASL and his pathway and my pathway. He always makes sure to tell me that he was a much better player than me, about almost every conversation."

As it turned out, Tozer's Pete Rose connection had one more chapter.

While coaching the Los Angeles Lazers, Tozer met a sports attorney, Jeffrey Lenkov, who became Rose's attorney. Lenkov also was one of the producers of the HBO documentary series, Charlie Hustle & the Matter of Pete Rose.

"Two years ago, all of a sudden, a FedEx package came to me," Tozer said. "I opened the FedEx package, and it said Cincinnati Reds uniform. On the front it says, "Keith, you're the best, Pete Rose.' And then the number of hits. That to me was really cool."

It has become one of Tozer's most treasured prizes.

"I do keep it in a special place upstairs," he said. "I haven't framed it yet, but maybe it's time to frame it now."

Michael Lewis' weekly column about the MASL and indoor soccer will return on a regular basis in November.