For the love of the game: The origin of Centre Men’s Soccer

The fall season of 2025 will mark the 50th anniversary of the first intercollegiate varsity soccer season at Centre College. Speaking on behalf of myself and my teammates, the current level of success of Centre Soccer is a source of pride for the members of the 1971 – 1974 club teams and the first varsity team. The team has come a long way from practicing on the lawn beside Breck Residence Hall and driving ourselves to games, just for the love and fun of the game.

I have long believed that those early days should not be forgotten. My regret today is that I did not act until this past year to try to document the perseverance and contributions of those early players. Memories have faded. Photographs have been lost. A surprising number have already passed.

Fortunately, with the assistance of Coach Jeb Burch ‘94 and the Office of Development and Alumni Engagement, all known surviving players (73 in total) were invited to share their recollections. Cento archives and yearbooks were reviewed, and local newspaper stories were researched. The resulting work, “Origins of Centre Soccer,” can now be found in the Centre College library digital repository. Team and candid photos, reprints of Cento articles, personal recollections, and other details presented there flesh out the history of Centre Soccer’s beginning.

One of the results of this effort is confirmation of the vital role John Boardman ’74 played in starting the team.

In the Fall of 1971, John obtained Centre’s permission to field a club team and convinced Instructor of Mathematics Andre Brousseau to serve as coach. He next worked hard to recruit players — prior experience not required. John and Andre then did their best to mold a team from what Leonard Thibadeau ’73 called “a rag-tag pickup group playing for fun mostly in front of our girlfriends.” The team achieved its first victory against Asbury Seminary and finished the season with 3 wins, 4 losses and three unknown results.

With Brousseau stepping aside in the fall of 1972, John established the schedule, recruited and coached the players, and led the team on the field. Off the field, the challenges continued. Players with cars shuttled the team to games. Student Congress provided $348 to pay for referees and uniforms. Finding a practice field remained difficult. Nevertheless, under John’s leadership, the team finished the regular season with 3 wins and 7 losses. Coming together as a team in the state tournament, Centre finished as runner-up in the college division, with John, Steve Thomas ’76, and Harbert Adams ’73 receiving individual honors.

In the fall of 1973, Professor of Psychology Don Brown and Professor of Mathematics Robert Piziak joined the team as coaches, relieving John of many responsibilities. However, he continued as the leader on the field. The team struggled to absorb many new players, finishing the season with a record of 1-10-2. Again, the team rallied for the state tournament. After losing its first game to Morehead 3-0, Centre defeated Asbury Seminary 4-2 and Eastern Kentucky University 8-2. The final game ended in a shoot-out with John making 6 of 7 penalty shots, finishing his college soccer career with an exclamation mark.

John Boardman's soccer legacy is the team's formation. He created the initial spark and then, with passion, acted to ensure the fire kept burning. In so doing, he earned his place in Centre’s Athletic Hall of Fame.

Although John had moved on, Centre Soccer thrived in the fall of 1974. More than 30 players made up the team, with both men and women taking the field.

The team posted a losing record (2-9-2), but as Keith Wilhelmi ’75 said, there was “no memory of any loss of enthusiasm. I think life at Centre entailed so much besides sports that we who were lucky enough to have this diversion simply enjoyed it. Frankly, I could not have even told you we had a poor record.”

Finally, in the spring of 1975, the athletic committee approved Centre Soccer as a varsity sport. Don Brown and Bob Piziak continued as the coaches. John Sosnowski ’77 and Steve Thomas were its co-captains. Pete Davison ’79 scored the team’s first goal in a loss to Asbury College. The team’s first victory came against Transylvania at Homecoming.

Les Trapp ’77 led the team in scoring with seven documented goals. In the season-ending tournament, Centre advanced to its divisional title game with Eastern Kentucky University, but lost in a shoot-out, finishing with a record of 5-6-1.

Hopefully, this brief article and the full “Origins of Centre Soccer” will help preserve the beginnings of Centre Soccer’s journey to its current level of success … with the future being even more successful!
 

This article first appeared in the Summer 2025 edition of Centrepiece.