THROWBACK THURSDAY | Atoms Win 1973 Title In Debut Season

Any time a club sets out on its inaugural season, there are typically growing pains and a learning curve as it tries to find its stride in league play.

In 1973, the Philadelphia Atoms had no problems settling into the NASL - or winning games.

Led by a pair of British loanees, Andy Provan and Jim Fryatt, the Atoms topped the Eastern Division, which included the New York Cosmos. Philadelphia finished with a regular season record of 9W-8D-2L.

“Our coach, Al Miller, rounded up what he thought were some American players who could handle the challenge and combined them with players from England – second division players, most of them not big name guys, but great attitudes – and the combination right from the start was a perfect arrangement,” Bob Smith told NASL.com.

“They came over here very hungry to play and, for their careers back in England, they still had something to prove.”

Smith, who was in his first year in the league, was drafted by the Atoms.

“Before that I was at Rider College, and Al Miller was coaching at Hartwick College, and I only remember playing them in a winter tournament a couple of times,” Smith said. “That’s where he saw me, and after that he drafted me.

“I didn’t know if I got drafted into the service. I didn’t know there was a league.”

In college at the time, his dorm roommate was the one that broke the news to the defender.

“I was bartending and someone called me from my dorm at Rider, and he said, ‘I think you just got drafted by New York or Philadelphia,’” Smith said.

“I had to leave school – I didn’t graduate or get my degree – because I had to go to England right after the draft, and it wasn’t a difficult decision for me. I just packed up and went to England for preseason training for two weeks, and we all met up over there.”

After a strong run in their initial campaign, the Atoms headed into the postseason, first dispatching the Toronto Metros, 3-0, to set up the championship match against the Dallas Tornado. 

Provan and Fryatt, who combined for 18 league goals, were unavailable to compete in the NASL’s title game.

“When the English guys left – they had to go back to play for their teams because they were only here on loan – we went to the airport to send them off,” Smith said.

And playing against the more established Tornado, the Atoms continued their winning ways, capping off their incredible debut season with a 2-0 victory in Dallas.

While the opener was an own goal from Tornado defender John Best, the goal that secured the Atoms’ title came from the unlikeliest of sources.  

Billy Straub, who started the season with the Montreal Olympique and went to the Atoms in a trade, never featured in a regular season match for Philadelphia. With the pair of English forwards out, Straub – a defender – was thrust into a starting role in an attacking postition and found the back of the net with a header in the match's 85th minute.

“He was a Philly guy, and we we’re all very happy for him,” Smith said. “He was a big-time college player (at the University of Pennsylvania). He was a big, strong guy, good in the air, and he scored a goal. I was so psyched for him.”

“It was all new to a lot of us that had never really been on the national scene as far as players go, and it was like a dream come true for us,” Smith said. “The team just came together, the players cared about each other so much, and we hung together and fought hard to win the championship. It was really, really a blast.”

The championship in the club’s inaugural season, and the only one the club would win, wasn’t the only first that year. Goalkeeper Bob Rigby was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated, becoming the first American soccer player to do so.

“We were great friends, and he’s probably one of my best friends today,” Smith said of Rigby. “Kyle Rote Jr. was also on the cover of that magazine, and it was like ‘Damn, there are two Americans on the cover of Sports Illustrated for soccer!’

“It was huge. I just thought it was a terrific thing.”

Smith, who went on to play with the Cosmos where he won two more championships, called the one with the Atoms the “most satisfying championship ring. I have three of them, but that one is way up there.”

His lasting memory of the title-winning season?

“We ran around the field with the trophy,” Smith added. “There was probably like 30 people from Philly – our ownership, front office, I brought my brother, and there was a couple of other fans. It was a small section, but we jumped over the wall into a crowd of our people – our Atoms Family – and just had a blast.”