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A quick note about our Top 50 list:
Many people have left many marks on soccer in Orange County over many years. Numbers 1 through 50 on our OC's 50 Most Influential Soccer People all are extrordinarily subjective and, of course, up for debate. That's what makes lists fun to follow. The No. 1 person on ours could be No. 12 on another, or, perhaps, not even be on it.
But when it comes down to soccer in OC, it's all about the people. And maybe there's a way to bring soccer together and let the people shine. That's why we did this list, and that's why we have this web site.
When XK OC Soccer News talked to dozens and dozens of OC soccer figures to create this list, many names sprung up. In most cases, the more a name was mentioned, the higher on the list that person went. A person like NHB FC's George Mitton made immeasurable contributions to the OC soccer landscape. People still talk about Mitton: If he were with us today, he'd probably be No. 1 on this list.
People like Mitton and others among these 50 can make soccer feel about as important as anything. Then there are those like Katie Hawley, the 9-year-old So Cal Blues player who's battling cancer, as you read this, like a little 70-pound lion.
Hawley, though we doubt she knows it, is inspiring many, many people in and around OC during her fight. Her influence also is bringing them together. Rival teams, clubs from across the West Coast, and people who've never even met her are wearing bracelets and wristbands to show support. People like Katie make giant Orange County feel like a cozy little neighborhood.
From the first time someone bare-footed a ball near an orange grove 100 years ago, to fast-pased 2009, OC has been packed with influential people. So think of this Top 50 as a celebration, not a contest.
We're celebrating the people who help put that special kick into our soccer lifestyle.
Have fun kickin' it around,
Mike Besack
Editor, XK OC Soccer News
Below are Nos. 1-5 of OC's 50 Most Influential Soccer People. For more on the list, and to see the other 45 names, click here.
5
Luis Balboa
Canyon PSA Director and Technical Director
One of the most popular people to ever walk an Orange County soccer sideline, there's probably more folks in OC that Balboa has influenced than those he hasn't.
Luis Balboa
.jpg) When the question arises, "who influenced, or influences you," odds are Balboa's name eventually springs up if the person answering has spent a decent amount of time in OC.
Balboa's been all over the county through his 30-some years on the pitch, including coaching stints at giants such as West Coast FC and Mission Viejo SC (where he once was the DOC). In 2003 he made his way to North OC to join Canyon PSA, and since, the club has been on the move.
With Director of Coaching Eddie Carrillo (No. 8 on this list), PSA's been on the upswing: Balboa keeps olders teams such as his BU-18 Gold squad on the winning track, while Carrillo and the club continues its focus on youngers and growing its teams from ground up. An alliance with Chapman University helps. PSA looks toward Balboa to help provide a "professional mindset" as it grows. As the PSA players are learning, Balboa has a habit of teaching, then coaching.
Balboa coached the Fram Culver BU-19s to the 1987 National Championship, coached many collegiate and professional players, and was in the path of many a successful OC player who's gone on to bigger things.
One of the more prominent players Balboa has guided on to greatness is his son, Marcelo Balboa, a one-time U.S. National Team captain and player of the year. The elder Balboa also has clocked time with ODP teams and various Premier-level teams.
4
Bernard Towers
Coast Soccer League President
Towers heads the Coast Soccer League, the one entity that every single OC club and team plays in.
Bernard Towers
 Put simply, the Coast Soccer League is the single thing, other than soccer balls and shin guards, that every player in OC has in common. Make that OC, the Inland Empire, Ventura County and Los Angeles County.
This year the CSL has more than 2,200 teams, more than 80 clubs and more than 35,000 players who will participate in around 18,000 games played on 500 fields. Whew. Every year these games represent the culmination of months upon months of hard work that will reveal how far a team has come.
The 10 weeks of the Coast Soccer League--comprising League Cup and leading into State and National Cup--are the most important weeks of the club soccer year, hands down.
Towers and the Orange-based Coast Soccer League finds a way to bring organization to the vast numbers of players, coaches, teams and parents that otherwise would beg for chaos. Towers & Co. get it done with the help of dedicated soccer people across So Cal, and many volunteers--as many as 2,500 every year. 3
Walid & Ziad Khoury
Directors of Coaching, Slammers FC
Everyone says it, and it's tough to argue: the Khoury brothers are known as the most recognizable faces found on youth soccer sidelines. Slammers FC is, has been, and will continue to be an OC club powerhouse, due in no small part to the Khourys, as well as club president/founder Terry Mazura (also on this Top 50 list).
Walid Khoury and Ziad Khoury
.JPG)
The Slammers' girls program today is ranked 4th in the nation by Soccer America, and the club as a whole has been ranked in the Top 10 over the past six years. The Khoury's 30-team OC megaclub was created by Mazura when key OC soccer figures including now-CSL President Bernard Towers and the Khoury brothers converged in the mid-90s in the then-Orange Coast United. The club had only as many as nine teams in 1999. Seven years later the Slammers hauled in 17 Cal South State titles.
Combined, the brothers hold three Nike Coach of the Year awards (2003, 2006, and 2009). Up until 2008, Slammers FC played in six national championships, winning three of them. The club has also seen international success: it won three world titles, four U.S. Club Soccer national championships and three Manchester United Cup titles. On the regional level, Slammers has won 10 Far West Regional championships, 19 Cal South National State Cup titles and more than 40 Surf Cup championships.
The Khourys grew up in Lebanon during its civil war and both played in the Lebanese Premier League. They moved to So Cal in 1984 and played soccer at Orange Coast College. During the 90’s they coached soccer at Corona Del Mar and Newport Harbor high schools. They continue to enjoy success today with many standout players succeeding under their direction in the Gold and Premier levels of the CSL. They've placed numerous players in every major Division-1 conference, and more than 15 of them have participated in the national team system.
The Khourys in 2008 joined the The Pali Blues Soccer Club of the USL W-League as assitant coaches, and guided them to a 12-0 record and the league championship. They even got Mia Hamm to help out as a trainer for the Slammers. Currently, Walid coaches the Slammers' GU-11, GU-14, GU-16, BU-18 teams. Ziad helms the club's GU-13, GU-15, GU-16, GU-18 squads.
2
Karen & Gary Sparks
Executive Director of Coast Soccer League and Premier Competition CP of CSL
Ever put together a jigsaw puzzle? How about one with 18,000 pieces? Welcome to the world of the Coast Soccer League, where as many as 18,000 games each fall are quelled together into 10 weeks of competitive club soccer the rest of the U.S. looks at as an example.
Karen Sparks and Gary Sparks
.JPG) Karen and Gary Sparks certainly are not alone in the cockpit for this venture, but they've got their hands pretty close to the controls. The Sparks are two of around 2,500 people--mostly volunteers--who make the CSL tick.
While Executive Director Karen Sparks is a member of the CSL team charged with mapping out the league's massive jigsaw puzzle, Gary Sparks oversees the CSL's Premier Division. He also produces the Premier magazine you find during weekends at Oaks Polo Field in San Juan Capistrano when you show up to watch some of the finest youth soccer in the country every fall weekend.
It's Gary Sparks who, according to many, also deserves a lot of credit for helping bring the CSL, and club soccer in OC, to the Internet. There probably isn't a soccer web site more visited every year (certainly during fall months), than that of the Coast Soccer League ( www.coastsoccer.com). The CSL web site has become the single go-to stop for every coach, referee, player, team manager and, heck, soccer fan in and around Southern California. It gets hits in the neighborhood of the tens of thousands daily and marks the 'X' at the center of the So Cal club soccer map for anyone seeking schedules, field info, rosters or standings.
1
Tad Bobak
So Cal Blues Coach, Program Director
No discussion of U.S. club soccer is complete without mentioning the So Cal Blues. Along with Larry Draluck (No. 9 on this list), Bobak is credited with starting the prominent all-girls OC club. It's been a superclub in OC, and the U.S., for going on 20 years. Not a single name sprung up more than Bobak's when XK OC did its research for this list. Finding someone who's done more for girls/women's soccer--and youth soccer in general--is a tall task.
Tad Bobak
 The So Cal Blues were just listed at No. 3 in Soccer America's Top 40 girls' clubs in the U.S. for 2009--which is tops in all of Southern California. The club today has 19 teams competing in CSL play--the vast majority of which are in Silver Elite brackets or higher. Through the years, Bobak's Blues club has won three national championships, 11 Far West Regional Championships and 28 CYSA South State Titles.
Bobak is girls' soccer in OC. His accomplishments on the Blues' sidelines aside, what hasn't he coached? He's worked with the LA Aztecs of the NASL, he was an assistant men's coach at USC, UCLA and CS Los Angeles. He also spent time as the Head Coach of the UC Santa Barbara women's team, and had a stint as assistant coach for the U.S. Women's National Team in 1987.
The genesis of the So Cal Blues traces back more than a quarter-century. In 1982 Bobak and then-UC Irvine Director of Soccer Marine Cano (also on this list) created the CYSA-South Girl's Olympic Development Program. Bobak took the lead in developing Southern California's ODP and the long-term effects speak for themselves. Ever heard of Julie Foudy and Joy Fawcett (two names on this Top 50 list, as well)? They're just two of the many prominent women's players that came out of So Cal, and the U.S. Women's National Team and Youth Women's National Teams Bobak had his fingerprint on.
The road from there to creating the So Cal Blues is a long and winding one that met its destination in 1990. Bobak wanted to create a club that had teams beginning at the youth level, building all the way to a powerful women's side. After he formed the Southern California Blues Adult Women's Team in 1985, his creation came to fruition when Draluck formed his youth program in 1990.
THE REST OF THE 50 MOST INFLUENTIAL:
Nos. 46-50
Nos. 41-45
Nos. 36-40
Nos. 31-35
Nos. 26-30
Nos. 21-25
Nos. 16-20
Nos. 11-15
Nos. 6-10 |
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