But they weren't the only Green White team to succeed. The reserve team (Klaus Kilian, Harry Bayer, Nick Wirs, Hans Bittenbinder, Georg Polaretzki, Walter Melcher, Fred Ott, Alex Gyurko, Herbert Fink, Jorgen Bo-Hansen, Joe Schlenhardt, Karl Buegner, Toni Rauscher, Stefan Zimmer, Stefan Strumberger) also won their division.
And maybe most excitingly, the youth teams both had tremendous seasons as well. The Junior team was led by a youngster named Rudi Mayer, who was named the second best player in the league. Along with his teammates, including two Kirschner brothers (George and Konrad), the Green White Junior team was dominant.
The youngest Green White team was even better. Edmund Dalitowitsch, Manfred Mathes, John Schwab, Frank Schwab, Otto Fladischer, Ernst Rieder, Danny Mijajlovic, Joe Schwab, Nick Leicht, Hans Metzinger, Herrmann Wittje, Rudi Korivisi, Michael Winter, Stefan Marx, Hans Mayer, Hans Marx, and Peter Mathes all made their mark on the field. Several of them would go on to become important cogs of Green White's future.
Green White Stats
For Green White's tenth anniversary, team historian Andreas Laxgang created a plaque that had all of the stats from the team's first ten years. It still hangs in the Green White clubhouse. Sadly, the stats will not be kept this meticulously in the years to come.
(Photo: Proud Green White members, Horst Melcher, Stefan Zimmer, Albin Schwarz, and George Kaempf)
As of 1966, here are the stats against the other clubs...
Green White—FC Fortuna. 18 wins, 8 ties, and 10 losses
Green White—SC Fichte Rams 10 wins, 7 ties, 11 losses
Green White—SC Wanderers 16 wins, 1 tie, 3 losses
Green White—Schwaben AC 6 wins, 1 tie, 12 losses
Green White—FC Hansa 5 wins, 2 ties, 12 losses
Green White—SC Kickers 3 wins, 4 ties, 13 losses
Green White—Real FC 2 wins and 1 tie
1. Joe Laxgang 398 (photo)
2. Stefan Zimmer 277
3. Sam Berleth 254
4. Rudi Hrbacek 254
5. Nick Willer 242
6. Stefan Laxganf 236
7. Adam Kaempf 234
8. Georg Kaempf 226
9. Dietmar Dittrich 197
10. Albin Schwarz 167
1. Rudi Hrbacek 94 (photo)
2. Georg Kaempf 93
3. Adam Kaempf 92
4. Gottfried Winter 64
5. Stefan Zimmer 61
6. Toni Rauscher 40
7. Stefan Laxgang 40
8. Joe Laxgang 39
9. Manfred Kovacs 37
10. Franz Stadler 27
Green White's overall record as of September 30, 1966: 233 wins, 113 losses, and 56 ties. The goal difference is 923 goals for, and 542 goals against.
Green White Off the Field
1966 was also a big year for the club because it was the first full year in the new clubhouse on Lincoln Avenue. The Donauschwaben moved into the upstairs section of the building and Green White was given the downstairs section.
They poured a lot of sweat and blood into that clubhouse. Klaus Kilian remembers it well: “When we moved to Lincoln Avenue, the whole basement was in terrible shape. It was very shabby. We remodeled the entire thing. Martin Schneider and I did all the plumbing. We put showers in there, we put a kitchen in there, and we made a clubhouse out of it.”
It was their pride and joy, and soon became the main hangout for Green White families. To Adam Kaempf, it was one of the great joys of that era. "We had that gym in the basement by the clubhouse, and the kids could play down there. The men could go to the bar. The women enjoyed each other’s company. What more could you ask for on a Sunday? Those were some wonderful times.”
The team president in 1966 was Hans Bittenbinder (photo below). This is what he wrote in the 10th anniversary program book...
"It is an honor for me to welcome our guests tonight. It’s particularly pleasing to see that so many of our friends have come out to help make this evening a great success. We’ve come a long way since the establishment of our club, haven’t we? Who would have predicted this ascent from that old clubhouse on Southport Avenue?
A handful of idealists, armed with nothing more than persistence and hard work created a soccer team from nothing, then a reserve team, and later, the most important part of any club that has hopes of growing in the future: a student and youth-team.
I do not want to go into all of our sporting accomplishments here, because you will find this in another part of the program, but I would like to take a moment to mention my predecessors, all of whom have contributed in the development of the SC Green White: Fritz Becker, Paul Wenson, Matz Kraemer, and Michael Melcher. I also don’t want to forget the spirited work of our honorary members, Andreas Laxgang and Martin Schneider.
Our growth stalled a bit during at our stay in our home at Elston Avenue, but after we moved last year into our current home, we climbed to new heights. The number of members has doubled, we now have our very own clubroom, and we are the only sports club in Chicago that has its own newspaper, "Gruen Weiss vor... ", which has become well known to all of our members, allowing them to follow the development of Green White with keen interest. This incredible growth has been an encouraging sign, and it’s my hope that by the time we meet again for our fifteenth anniversary, our current home will be too small to accommodate all of our friends.
Once again, I would like to wish all of my friends and guests a pleasant and entertaining evening, and I hope that we can provide the kind of sporting camaraderie you seek in the future.
Yours in soccer,
Hans Bittenbinder"
Green White Babies
*(Photo) Steve Albrecht (September 17)
*Sonja Melcher (October 2)
In Pop Culture
~The #1 pop hit of the year was “The Ballad of the Green Berets” by SSgt. Barry Sadler
~The #1 TV show of the year was “Bonanza”
~The Academy Award for Best Picture went to “A Man for All Seasons”
Elsewhere in Soccer
The World Cup was held in England in 1966. Led by manager Alf Ramsey, England started off slowly in the tournament (a draw against Uruguay), but came on strong. They faced Germany in the final game, and won a controversial 4-2 victory; clinching England's one and only World Cup.
Elsewhere in Chicago
~The Chicago Bulls basketball team was founded.
~Martin Luther King marched in Gage Park and was hit in the head with a rock. He later met with Mayor Daley and made an agreement to end the marches in exchange for Daley's promise to promote fair housing.
~John Lennon held a press conference in Chicago to apologize for saying "the Beatles were more popular than Jesus".
Coming next month, 1967: Green White Goes to Germany
As always, if you have any thing to add or correct in this month’s installment, please drop me a line at amishrick@yahoo.com. I consider this a group project, and a work in progress, so we can add and subtract until we get it all exactly correct. If you have photos you’d like to contribute, please do.
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