Tim Peeler: Looking at the history of NC State men's soccer ahead of College Cup appearance

The first time the exotic European game of soccer was played on NC State’s campus was Jan. 6, 1923, a sport introduced by one of the college’s first foreign-born professors, textiles department head Thomas Nelson.

A native of Preston, England, Nelson spent time teaching the game to his fellow faculty and mostly rural students from North Carolina, none of whom had ever played the game for a game that was gaining popularity in the United States in advance of the 1924 Paris Olympics.

The 46-year-old Nelson, the chair of the faculty committee on athletics who later became the first dean of what now called the Wilson College of Textiles, scored the first goal in a 2-2 tie against the inexperienced but more athletic students. Track coach Carl C. Taylor scored the faculty’s other goal and former football standout Sammy Homewood earned praise for his play against former classmates.

Students George Bostic, M.E. Woodall, Herman C. Kennette and James L. McNamara picked up game quickly, with the latter two scoring the student goals.

“It is hoped that games with other colleges may be arranged in the near future,” reported Technician following the inaugural game.

A week later, North Carolina announced plans to introduce the game to its freshman class, with the hopes of scheduling intervarsity games.

The hidden lore and legend of soccer — or “English football,” as it was called in the student newspaper — has enriched NC State’s campus since that first game at Riddick Field, a fact that has come to the fore this fall. Second-year head coach Marc Hubbard has taken his team to the second No. 1 ranking in program history for a sport that first attained varsity status in 1949, when inaugural coach Eric DeGroat formed the first varsity team after two years as a club sport.

The first varsity and freshman teams, compiled entirely of walk-on students already enrolled in school, was populated with international players from Mexico, Greece, Cuba, Colombia, Iraq, Norway, Italy, India, Costa Rica, Brazil and Guatemala, mixed with a couple of natives of Wake and Johnston counties.

For the first three decades, the varsity program was coached by five different instructors from the school’s physical education department, starting with DeGroat and followed by John Kenfield, Bill Leonhardt, Nellie Cooper and Max Rhodes. 

There were some standout individual performances—on Sept. 30, 1964, Balboa, Spain, native Benito Artinano set an NCAA record with seven goals against Appalachian State, which is still the second most by a single player in an NCAA game—but relatively little team success, as four of the first five coaches had losing overall records.

Those teams were competitive but could not match up in the ACC, one of the nation’s top soccer leagues. (The ACC has a strong history in men’s soccer, with teams combining for 20 NCAA national championships and reaching the Men’s College Cup, often hosted by NC State at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, in 22 of the last 24 seasons. State will make its second-ever appearance in the event Friday night against Saint Louis).

In 1978, athletics director Willis Casey grew tired of tired split-time coaches, so he replaced Rhodes with Virginia coach Larry Gross to lead both the varsity soccer and lacrosse teams. The school eventually dropped lacrosse as a varsity sport, leaving Gross as the head coach of the men’s program and, starting in 1984, as the women’s head coach as well. Gross took over for the women two years later and his assistant, Argentinian-born George Tarantini, was appointed head coach of the men.

In keeping with the tradition of the program, Gross and Tarantini heavily recruited international players, with Gross bringing in a significant number of African superstars like Sam Okpodu, Sam Owoh, Chris Ogu, Prince Afejuku and Chibuzor Elihegbu, all of whom earned caps for the Nigerian national team. Gross once got a tip about a nimble, and exceedingly tall, Nigerian player who was interested in coming to Raleigh — named Hakeem Olajuwon.

Tarantini began attracting South American players like Uraguay-born Tab Ramos, who became a three-time All-American for the Wolfpack. Ramos not only became one of the greatest players in NCAA history, he’s among the sport’s top players as a professional, a member of the U.S. Men’s National Team and an electee into the National Soccer Hall of Fame.

In 1990, Tarantini directed the Wolfpack to its only Atlantic Coast Conference Championship and the NCAA Final Four, the most successful season in school history. That team was led by two-time ACC Player of the Year Henry Gutierrez, who was the Most Outstanding Player of the 1990 ACC Championship.

That core of players is the loudest and most vocal when one of their teammates is honored, as when Gutierrez was elected to the NC State Athletic Hall of Fame. And those guys are all-in on this year’s squad. 

“To be honest, after watching them a bit last year, going into this season, I don’t think this season is surprising anybody,” Gutierrez says. “Marc Hubbard and his coaching staff have done a good job of using their resources and [the transfer] portal and have been diligent and meticulous in putting together a squad that plays well together, is cohesive and, most of all, is resilient.

“I’m crossing my fingers and hoping that we can continue this run all the way to the ACC tournament win and make a run in the NCAA tournament.”

Tarantini retired following the 2010 season after winning 234 matches against 197 losses. His successors, Kelly Findley and George Kiefer, struggled to post winning records in their combined 13 seasons.

“From an alum’s perspective, this team has everyone watching as they break records and earn the attention of college soccer and beyond,” said former general manager of the North Carolina Football Club Curt Johnson, a State soccer alum who recently became general manager of the Denver Summit of the National Women’s Soccer League. “We love how hard they play for one another, the soccer program and the university.

“The students and Wolfpack fans have generated the best game-day atmosphere I’ve seen…that’s going to be huge over the coming weeks in the tournaments.

Hubbard’s team is also heavily populated with international players, including All-America striker Donavan Phillip of Castries, St. Lucia, from Denmark, England, France, Canada, South Africa, Germany, Portugal, Australia, along with a half-dozen native North Carolinians.

“From a general manager’s perspective, what Marc Hubbard and his staff have done in building this roster is so impressive,” Johnson says. “They are clearly one of the most talented teams in college soccer. Talent only gets you so far and this team can win in a lot of ways.

“That’s definitely a characteristic of a special team. I know they have big aspirations…and why not? They’ve earned that right.”

Tim Peeler is a regular contributor to The Wolfpacker and can be reached at [email protected].