Throwback Thursday: Shep Messing Was The Face Of The Oakland Stompers

Shep Messing was a champion with the New York Cosmos in 1977. It was also Pelé’s final game in the North American Soccer League (NASL).

That offseason Messing had a choice with his contract up with the Cosmos. He decided to move west to join the Oakland Stompers after Milan Mandaric purchased the Connecticut Bicentennials and relocated them to the Bay Area. It was a time when several clubs relocated out west, with the California Surf and San Diego Sockers also making their debuts in 1978.

The move, which brought a $100,000 contract, garnered him the largest contract at the time for an American-born soccer player.

“I had never envisioned leaving the Cosmos but I was a free agent, and as it turned out, I became the highest-paid player for an American,” he told NASL.com.

It also made him the face of the Stompers, who were named as a nod to the many vineyards in the area and the stomping of grapes to make wine.  

“I really never looked for the fame but I was the marquee guy. Out in San Francisco and Oakland, prior to the opening game, there were billboards with my picture, an article in Sports Illustrated, and a tremendous amount of pressure on me as the marquee name,” Messing said.

The Stompers General Manager Dick Berg wanted Messing to ride into the stadium for the club’s opening game on an elephant, however, Messing refused.

“He did have me pose with pictures with the back four of the Oakland Stompers, myself in goal, and a bunch of sheep all around us. I had a big stick that the shepherd’s use,” he said. “That was the big promotional poster, they called it ‘Shep’s Herd’.” Among those in the herd was Franz Smuda, who coached the Polish National Team from 2009-12.

And that first game was against the other West Coast club Manadric founded, the San Jose Earthquakes, in front of a crowd of 32,104 at the Oakland Coliseum. It ended, 0-0, in regulation and then went into a shootout.

To get there, Messing needed to save a penalty kick from Illija Matic, who was routinely a NASL Best XI selection and near the top of the scoring leaders.

“It’s the 85th minute, I was the big promotion leading up to the game, and I made the save. I knew where he was going, I dove to my right and I saved the penalty kick,” Messing recalled.

With the game tied after extra time, it went into a shootout, where players would dribble from 35 yards out in a 1-v-1 situation with the goalkeeper. Messing stonewalled the Earthquakes shootout takers to help the Stompers to victory.

“It was probably the greatest game of my life under very different pressure than you had with the New York Cosmos,” said Messing, who noted he played the two best games of his career in the NASL back-to-back with the Soccer Bowl in 1977 to close out the previous year.

Messing also briefly coached the Stompers on an interim basis.

“I was pretty lousy. All I told the guys was, ‘hey, no curfews, do whatever you want.’”

Oakland, however, would only have one season in the Bay Area after posting a 12-18 record. The club relocated once again to become the Edmonton Drillers.

Messing headed back towards his native New York, signing with the Rochester Lancers. Although, he was sad to see the Stompers have a one-and-done tenure on the West Coast.

“I really was sad. I’m a New York guy but living in California – San Francisco, Oakland – that was a great time,” Messing said. “It was really Hollywood North, and it was really a fun time.”

It’s a market Messing hopes is soon populated by NASL clubs once again.

“We look back historically for the NASL, today, where we want to go and going west, California in particular, should be where NASL gets because it was really good before,” Messing said. “You had good rivalries in San Diego, the California Surf, the Los Angeles Aztecs, the Oakland Stompers, and the San Jose Earthquakes. There’s no secret that’s a great fertile market.”

He added, “I think it’s a great market – Oakland and San Francisco. I would love to see the NASL in San Diego, L.A., Oakland, and San Francisco. They were very savvy soccer fans.”