Vancouver Whitecaps

On December 11, 1973, Denny Veitch and Herb Capozzi officially announced the Vancouver Whitecaps franchise on the top floor of a downtown Vancouver Davie Street hotel as the club began life in the original North American Soccer League (NASL). Veitch is known for creating the club’s name. It came to him while he was driving across Lions Gate Bridge on a beautiful sunny afternoon. He looked down and saw the whitecaps on the ocean and looked up and saw the whitecaps on the mountains, and thus Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club was born. The original Vancouver Whitecaps played their first ever match on May 5, 1974, when they fell to a 2-1 home defeat to San Jose Earthquakes. Though the first match was a loss, the crowd saw defender Neil Ellett write his name in the history books that day by scoring the club's first-ever goal in the league. The 'Caps steadily improved over the next couple of years and made their first playoff appearance in 1976 against cross-border rivals Seattle Sounders. Though Vancouver came up short in their playoff runs from 1976 through 1978, 1979 was a different story. That year, Vancouver won it all and became the city’s first professional sports team to win a major North American Championship when they defeated Tampa Bay Rowdies. Upon return to Vancouver on Sept. 9, 1979, as many as 100,000 people lined Vancouver’s Robson Street to salute their heroes during a championship parade, arguably creating the most historic moment in Whitecaps history. The few years following their championship win of 1979, the 'Caps were unable to defend their title. Hopes were high for a second NASL title in 1983, as Vancouver played host to the Soccer Bowl championship match at the newly-built BC Place Stadium. In fact, the Whitecaps 2-1 victory over Seattle on June 20, 1983, was the first sporting event to be played in BC Place and attracted a crowd of 60,342. Though the Whitecaps finished top of the Western Division standings that year, another first-round playoff exit followed – this time to Toronto Blizzard. The demise of the North American Soccer League (NASL) in 1984 resulted in the formation of a new league, the Canadian Soccer League (CSL), in 1986. This change in leagues was accompanied by a new CSL franchise in Vancouver purchased by the West Coast Soccer Society. Like the Whitecaps before them, the new team needed an identity befitting of its origins. And so, Vancouver 86ers were born, a name derived for several reasons: the year of Vancouver’s incorporation as a city (1886), the year of the club’s founding (1986), the first ever year that Canada qualified for the FIFA World Cup (1986), and for one more reason – there were 86 members who originally invested to help fund the start of the team. From 1988 – 1991, the 86ers established themselves as a powerhouse, winning four-straight league championship titles. The club also set a North American professional sports record by playing 46 consecutive matches without defeat (37 wins and 9 draws). For this accomplishment, the 86ers squad of 1989 was inducted into the BC Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. The 86ers entered a new era when the CSL folded and they became members of the American Professional Soccer League (APSL). With a new look, logo, and colours (red, black, and white) in 1993, the 86ers finished top of the APSL regular season standings before their season was abruptly ended in the playoff semifinals, as Los Angeles Salsa won 3-2 in a shootout at Swangard. The match was also Bob Lenarduzzi’s last as 86ers head coach, as he turned his sole focus to his other role as head coach of the Canadian men’s national team after being appointed to that position in the spring of 1992. Former Whitecaps, 86ers, and Canadian international Carl Valentine succeeded Lenarduzzi as head coach. After missing the playoffs in his first season in charge in 1994, Valentine led the 86ers to the postseason in 1995, where they lost to Seattle Sounders in the Semifinals. The 86ers made