READ THE MAGIC OF 0-7 ONLINE

As I sit here in my home office, it’s hard to believe that I am writing about a story that happened 57 years ago! Although I have been writing stories for ten+ years, I have always had the desire to one day share this story. It was 1967 and my assignment was clear; I was to coach the college soccer team. The problem was that I had never seen a soccer game. I knew nothing about soccer, or how the game was played.

Welcome to the story!

CONTENTS

BECOMING A COACH

OK, LET’S BEGIN

IT WAS THE MAGIC OF 0-7

BECOMING A COACH

Why would I want to coach a sport

that I had never seen before?

Agreeing to this position seemed to many people a quick end to a coaching career. If you are going to coach, maybe you should try something you know. My desire to be a coach started in high school and playing on teams that won. In my senior year, I played football, basketball, and track. We became conference champs in all three sports. Those high school coaches were a great inspiration to me. It was there that furthered my conviction that I hated to lose more than I love to win. To my teammates and coaches, winning seemed normal.

In college, I played basketball and threw the discus in track. Once again I had great inspirational coaches. In basketball we became conference champs. The track team seems to always win. In track, I tried to score enough points throwing the discus to merit my team meals. Those playing experiences set a desire in my mind to become a basketball coach.

Why would anyone hire someone

to coach a sport they knew nothing about?

Mount Union College is in NE Ohio in the town of Alliance. It is now known as The University of Mount Union. Founded in 1846, the private university was affiliated with the Methodist Church until the spring of 2019.

I was born in that same town, and my parents’ home was just seven miles from the campus. I attended Mount Union and graduated with a B.A. degree in history. I was encouraged to attend Mount Union by the college’s basketball coach, Wayne Ashbaugh.

In my senior year at Mount, we got a new basketball coach, Terry Parsons, and, because of some outstanding teammates, we won the Ohio conference basketball championship. What a blessing it was when Coach Parsons asked me to be his assistant basketball coach. It was hard to believe that, at the age of 23, I could become a college coach.

Then they told me the whole deal. In addition to coaching basketball and teaching classes in the physical education department, I would also be the head soccer coach at Mount Union. I remember silently saying “WHAT?!”

But my desire to be a basketball coach was stronger than my fear of coaching something called soccer.

I accepted.

When I was a student at Mount, Coach Wayne Ashbaugh, my first Mount basketball coach, had helped me get a summer job at Ken-Mont Camp in Kent, Connecticut. It was there that I got a little taste of coaching with the camp’s basketball team playing against other camps nearby.

Besides Ken-Mont, my coaching resume was empty. I had no experience. But my 23 year-old thinking was clear to me. I loved basketball, and soccer had a ball and a net, so it couldn’t be that hard.

How wrong I was!

So, as a head college coach with no experience, I quickly realized that soccer was a fall sport and basketball was a winter sport, which meant that I would coach soccer before I began to be the assistant basketball coach. I needed to learn quickly, like how many players were on a soccer team. As a student at Mount, I didn’t even know that Mount had had a soccer team.

I was now a coach who needed coaching! I was blessed to have two good teachers; Athletic Director Jack Rafeld for soccer, and Coach Terry Parsons for basketball. Boy, was this a great blessing! Rafeld even took me to visit with other college soccer coaches. In addition to these talented coaches, I was now going to be on the coaching staff with my former track coach, Jim Wuske, and football coach, Ken Wable. They were great winning coaches, and they showed me and taught me great lessons.

I knew that to win at the college level, and at any level, you need to have talented players. Being a college coach meant you must improve current players and recruit new players all the time, and every year have talented freshmen!

So, it turns out that I really had four jobs, or four ways to fail!

· Physical Education Instructor

· Assistant Basketball Coach

· Head Soccer Coach

· College Admissions/Recruiter

(Soccer / Basketball)

I was also told that some of my P.E. classes would include tennis. The only thing I knew about tennis is how to spell it. What have I gotten myself into?

NOTE: I didn’t realize early on how much money was involved, but I wanted to coach so badly that I would have paid them any amount. Coaching at a small college doesn’t make a lot of CENTS!

My father and my grandfathers showed me how hard work is a path to success. When I was trying to make the basketball team while a freshman at Mount Union, we would run the stadium steps to get in shape for the season. When we finished and headed for the locker room, I would sneak off and run more steps by myself. Even if there were more talented players trying out for the team, I wanted to know that I had worked harder than anyone else. It was the only approach that I had to share with each soccer player; no matter how much talent/skills he had, or how much the opponent had.

Recruiting new players each year was something I knew nothing about. As I worked with basketball coach, Terry Parsons, I learned more about finding players and encouraging them to come to Mount. I would need to know how the admissions office worked and how to contact high school players who had good grades. Back then, when I started, there were not many high schools that played soccer. My focus then added students from other countries who were interested in studying in the USA.

When I was a student at Mount, they gave me a job to help pay for my tuition. I was a nighttime janitor and would clean floors in the administration and other buildings. To do this, they gave me keys to the buildings.

Now, as a Mount coach, it seemed that maybe I could visit the admission office after hours and learn more about any applying students who played soccer. It helped that I had made duplicate keys to all the buildings. I would simply find an application of someone who played soccer and put his application on the top of the pile to be considered.

This effort was discontinued when one of the ladies in the office realized

that someone had moved things on her desk.

OK, LET'S BEGIN!

Then they gave me the ’67 soccer schedule.

Seven chances!

The first day of practice was set for September 21st

Mount classes began on September 25th

First game vs Wilmington at Mount on October 7th

THAT WAS ONLY 16 DAYS

TO BE READY!

GAME #1 VS WILMINGTON COLLEGE

Wilmington scored three times in the first quarter, added two more in both the second and third quarters, and once in the fourth quarter. Center forward, Henry Mwandmere, played an outstanding game and goalkeeper, Dean Patrick, had 15 saves.

Final Score: Mount 0 – Wilmington 8

And it didn’t get any better ….

MOUNT UNION – 0 WILMINGTON - 8

MOUNT UNION – 0 WOOSTER - 8

MOUNT UNION – 0 HEIDELBERG - 7

MOUNT UNION – 0 HIRAM - 10

MOUNT UNION – 0 CASE TECH - 5

MOUNT UNION – 0 KENYON - 6

MOUNT UNION – 0 JOHN CARROLL - 3

We failed to win a game that first year and went 0-7. Two seasons later, we had the first winning season in the school’s history. Just five seasons later, Mount Union became conference champions.

Each season we were blessed to have new freshman players join the program. Only once in eight seasons following that first winning season did the program fail to have a winning record. That 3-5-1 season happened about the time I first became the head basketball coach. All the hurt of 0-7 came back. But, it never happened again!

1967 – 0-7

1968 – 3-4-1

1969 – 5-2-1 – First winning season

1970 - 7-3

1971 – 3-5-1 - ????

1972 – 9-2

1973 – 8-1-1

1974 – 12-1 – Conference champions

1975 – 9-1

1976 - 9-1

1977 - 7-3-1

THE MAGIC OF 0-7!

THE STORY OF MOUNT UNION SOCCER SUCCESS WAS FOUND IN THAT FIRST TEAM!

Row 1: LARRY DIFLOE, BRUCE HIXON, DON MENZ, TERRY MEEK, HENRY MWANDEMERE, TONY ZURBRUGG NOEL HESS.

Row 2: BOB HARDING, captain TED PURVIANCE, DAVE STOKES, GREG REYNOLDS,

DALE DODD, TOM BARCLAY, manager DON STEVIC.

Row 3: JEFF HEADMAN, DAVE ZIEGLER, CLAUDE LAMBE, TOM ARDISSON,

TOM LONGBONS, DAVE HUSTON, DEAN PATRICK

I wish you could have seen the determination, desire, and hard work that those first players had. You could see it in their eyes! Those traits would push off-season dedication and improvement. Some of the players had never played soccer before.

It has now been 57 years since that first season. As I look back while writing this story, the determination, desire, and the “never give up effort” of those players would drive them and new players, year after year. Players would not only benefit from those traits, but also would pass them on to new teammates. Each new player who joined the team would be immersed in that 0-7 determination.

To this know-nothing coach, as hard it was to not win a game IN 1967, that “no win season” was just a learning curve. Losing is something you can take if it pushes you in the right direction! It was those first players who showed their determination, and it reinforced the success of the soccer program at Mount Union.

For every practice and every game after that first season,

when I walked onto the field, it was like magic to remember 0-7 and the determination of those first team players to never

let that happen again !

1973 - 8-1-1

1977 - 7-3-1

THE ROSTER

PLEASE CONTACT US FOR ANY CORRECTIONS NEEDED.

MORE THOUGHTS

There is a song that the soccer fans in Liverpool, England all sing before each home game. It is a song that makes me think of the determination and great efforts that came from those 1967 players and all the players in the eleven years of Mount Union soccer.

When you walk through a storm

Hold your head up high

And don't be afraid of the dark.

At the end of a storm

Is a golden sky

And the sweet, silver song of a lark.

Walk on, through the wind,

Walk on, through the rain,

Though your dreams are tossed and blown.

Walk on, walk on with hope in your heart,

And you'll never walk alone,

You'll never walk alone.

AND THE MAGIC CONTINUES …

I want to thank

TOM ARDISSON and TOM LONGBONS,

members of the 1967 team, who established the Gary Lee Fisher Endowed Scholarship at Mount Union. It will be awarded to an incoming student from my former high school – Marlington. My thanks to all basketball/soccer players and everyone who continue to contribute to this scholarship.

For more information; contact Ellen Campbell at Mount Union. campbell@mountunion.edu

I want to also thank BRUCE HIXON, a member of the 1967 soccer team, for nominating me into the Mount Union Athletic Hall of Fame in 2021.

HALL OF FAME

Introduction

Those selected for induction this year have achieved high honors in their respective sport and supported the ideal of good sportsmanship and high character. M-Club is proud to recognize and honor these most deserving athletes.

It is my pleasure to recognize Coach Gary Fisher. Gary is a 1966 graduate from Mount Union and majored in history. In the summer of 1967, Gary Fisher returned to his alma mater as the assistant basketball coach and the head soccer coach. Coach Fisher, by his own admission, knew nothing at all about the game of soccer. Yet in just two seasons he produced Mount Union soccer’s first winning record. He went to post an overall record of 72-30-6 and an OAC record of 42-16-1. He has the highest winning percentage of anyone who has coached men’s soccer for more than one season.

But more important than the wins and losses is Coach Fisher’s contribution to Mount Union soccer as a whole. From humble beginnings coach Fisher built a first class Division 3 soccer program and instilled in it a tradition of winning. Currently Gary is retired and resides in Sugarcreek Ohio with his wife Virginia. He has one daughter, Jennifer, a son-in-law, Wes, and two grandchildren Ryne, and Emily. It is my honor to induct into the M-Club Hall of Fame Coach Gary Fisher.

My Acceptance Comments

They said that the order of appearance would be by age. I want to congratulate the other Hall of Famers. I find it exciting to hear your stories. It has been a long time since I have been at Mount Union. Back then, Don Montgomery, Bruce Hixon, Harry Paidas, and Larry Kheris were just students chasing co-eds.

In my opinion, there is no place for narcissism in sports. I think that this award is just a chance for me to identify my many blessings. My thanks to my wife Virginia, and to my family, who have come all the way from Arizona. Emily, my granddaughter, is only eight and plays some great basketball. Thanks to Skype.

I was born here in Alliance and grew up on a farm just seven miles from here. I drove a tractor, fed pigs, and hauled manure. But, my parents and my grandparents taught me a great lesson; the value of hard work. I think it’s there that I learned that I hated losing more than I loved winning. I just hated losing.

I want to thank my 1966 basketball teammates who were conference champs. It was an inside look at how teams win.

After my graduation, I was invited by Coach Terry Parsons to become the assistant basketball coach here. Part of that job was to be the soccer coach. Now I had never seen a soccer game before. If we had had that much land on the farm, we would have planted something on it.

Four years later I became the head basketball coach. Now to give you an idea of that job: Mount’s soccer team is playing tonight, and the basketball team is playing a game on Nov. 6, which means you had to have some great assistant coaches, and I did.

I am thankful that I had the chance to coach alongside two of Mount’s greatest coaches, Jim Wuske and Ken Wable. I learned so much from them.

As I coached hundreds of players, it’s not right to mention any one of them because, to me, they were all important. Whether they were players, substitutes, managers or trainers, they were all important to me. I just want to take a moment to pause as some of the players have already gone to Heaven. Let’s just pause.

I’m blessed to have some players here, even some from Malone College, where I later coached for several years. (I think they heard there was free food tonight) So, I want to take time to ask all the players whom I coached who are here tonight, would you please stand. …. I am watching you! Oh, and by the way, after this is over we will meet at the track to see what kind of shape you are in. I’m not kidding.

And finally, let’s consider your story.

Do you remember the house you grew up in as a child? Who was your favorite teacher? What was your first major disappointment? Has your favorite music changed over the years? Who is your closest friend? Did you ever get in trouble with the law? What is your favorite holiday?

Think back over all the events of your story from your birth until this very day. Now consider that, no matter how great or hard your story is, or how different it is from anyone else’s you know, there was always one thing that was consistent for us all.

It doesn’t matter if you live in a large city, a suburb, or a small rural town.

It doesn’t matter if you have many siblings, are an only child or an orphan; if you have many friends or none.

It doesn’t matter if you wear business clothing or a t-shirt at work; attend a church or not. It doesn’t matter if you are short or tall; are a marathon runner or in a wheelchair.

But some will say, “We are too different. There are so many different lives to live, how could any one thing be the same in everyone’s life?”

As you reflect on your story, one fact will always remain: with every step, event, success or failure, happiness or sadness, and every breath you have taken in your life, there is one common thread…

Jesus Christ, He was there all the time.

He created you and knew you before you were born. He knew your parents and your grandparents. He knows about everything happening in the world. Not only was He there during every second of your past, but He is still there today, and He will be there every day of your life.

And, He is always waiting to help, comfort, save and bless you … Just ask Him.

When we were happy and laughed or when we were sad and cried, He Was There!

With every birth and every death, He Was There!

When we were sick and when we were healthy,

He Was There!

Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior,

He was There All The Time!

WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand,

that he may lift you up in due time. I Peter 5:6

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and

petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Philippians 4:6

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we

will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Galatians 6:9

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and

assurance about what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1

MAY GOD BLESS YOU

AND ALL THOSE YOU LOVE!

AND REMEMBER

STAY ON-SIDES WITH JESUS!

What a great story. A story of determination and success. Keep telling your story and ultimate "success" of accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior. As we know, accepting Jesus

is the most important decision we will make. Jim M.

Wow ! That's amazing, I've never had a friend make it to the "HALL OF FAME"

All that good work ethic you learned on the farm paid off. It must have taken a lot

of patience for those early years coaching soccer. Johnny W.