1979 belonged to the Green White Junior team coached by Simon Andres. The team was populated with familiar Green White names like Laxgang, Blaas, Wagner, Stadler, Andres, Dunkas, and Bischoff, and they won the league championship, the city championship, and the Schwaben tournament. Several of those players would become mainstays on the Green White first team in the years to come.
The first team wasn't quite as successful in 1979, finishing in the middle of the pack of the Major Division. Frank Speth led the team with 20 goals, and Hans Mayer added another nine. The team had a much better season indoors, coming just shy of winning of the championship.
One other Green White team, however, did not fall shy of their goal. The Green White Women's Team, led by Maria Blaas, finished their season in first place with a record of 10-2-2.
Green White Off The Field
Susie Zimmer represented the club as Miss Green White at the 15th annual Sport, Radio & Press Ball at the Bismarck Hotel Ballroom. The Conant High School senior noted in the program that "Practically all my time is spent at the soccer fields because I love the sport so much." Susie shared space in the program with that night's special guest of honor, Chicago Cubs broadcaster Jack Brickhouse, as well as the dignitaries who sent well wishes including former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, and German National Team coach Helmut Schoen. The biggest prize of the night, Junior Team of the Year, was won by Green White.
One former Green White player, Joe Filian, was meanwhile enjoying his time playing professional soccer in the NASL as a member of the New York Cosmos. Among his teammates, the legendary Franz Beckenbauer. That's Joe with the big afro in the back row, good ol' #27...
Green White Babies
*Future first team player Bunnyray Larmond was born on December 4th.
In Pop Culture
*The number song of the year was "My Sharona" by The Knack
*The Academy Award for best picture was given to "Kramer vs. Kramer"
*The top rated television show of 1979 was "60 Minutes"
Elsewhere in 1979
~Nearly twenty inches of snow fell in one weekend in Chicago; one of the biggest storms in city history.
~The Shah of Iran fled his country and was replaced by Ayatollah Khomeini. Militants seized the U.S. Embassy and held Americans hostage.
~An accident at Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant released radiation in Pennsylvania
~Margaret Thatcher became the Prime Minister of Great Britain.
~Pope John Paul II visited the United States, including Chicago. He performed mass in front of an overflow crowd of worshippers in Grant Park.
Coming next month: 1980.
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.
