Penner and soccer

Sportswriter Scott French was at the World Cup match in Pasadena in 1994 where Mike Penner first discovered soccer. The late L.A. Times sports writer bought a ball, started kicking it around in the park, then invited colleagues to join him. French posts today at Real Clear Sports:

There were just a handful at first, then a few more, then enough for a really good 7-on-7 game, usually followed by a Chicago-style hot dog feast at Mustard's in Los Alamitos, a half-mile or so from the park.

From that, a thought. What if we put together a real team and played other teams?....

So began Scribes FC, the best soccer club in Southern California consisting primarily of sportswriters, to be sure. It lasted 10 years, won plenty of trophies - capturing titles in adult-recreation leagues in Monterey Park, Long Beach and Placentia - and spawned a coed team, a 7-a-side team, even a second team that battled the first team in the championship game one year in Placentia....

We had a Who's Who of L.A.-area sportswriting talent, with journalists from the Times, Orange County Register, Long Beach Press-Telegram, Pasadena Star-News. Emilio Garcia-Ruiz, a Times editor who now is the Washington Post's sports editor, teamed with Mike in central defense, and he brought his Spanish-born cousin, Sergio Verdu, a creative midfielder and Scribes FC's first superstar.

Maybe the best appreciation of Penner I've read yet. More names are in the post.

Previously on LA Observed:
Mike Penner, 52, believed to be suicide
Mike Penner's musical side