Pat McBride: Unforgettable Name; Unforgettable Man

Pat McBride (left) gets a hug from Bob Guelker following the 1975 Bronze Boot Game.

Everything seems bigger when you’re young, more remarkable, more romantic. Names were like that, and Pat McBride was one of those names. 

It’s not for me to say where that name ranks among soccer figures in St. Louis. Soccer has a thick history in this community, sprinkled as it is with Irish, Italian and German heritage. St. Louis might be known as a baseball town, but soccer is in the DNA. 

That association has thinned a bit over the past many years. The soccer universe has expanded and diversified on many levels. St. Louis University is no longer a dominant gene collegiately; CYC ain’t what it used to be. Parameters are different, priorities have changed, the goal posts moved.   

But “Pat McBride,” the residue, the connotation, the name still reverberates. It’s more than the name of a guy who once played here. When you see it, read it, or hear it, a white and black checkered ball rolls through your head. You want to slap on some shin guards, pull up some knee socks, put on a long sleeve jersey and start dribbling. 

If the game has a synonymous partner in St. Louis, if “aka” applies - that name is it.

Is McBride the best player in St. Louis soccer history? Again, someone with better soccer chops and more “futbol” on the brain would have to say. McBride is one of 29 St. Louisans in the National Soccer Hall of Fame. St. Louis soccer roots go as deep as the 1880s. They’re laced with incredible Simpkins-Ford and St. Louis Kutis rosters, they’re soaked in Amateur Cup, World Cup and Olympics glory. 

Perhaps someone like Bill McDermott, who is in the fraternity, who knows soccer like Ted Drewes knows custard, would say. I don’t know. The St. Louis Soccer Hall of Fame includes 99 U.S. National Team players and goalkeepers, 35 MLS players, 5 NWSL players. They really were good guys … and gals.  

Serve a ball in any direction and you’ll hit a damn fine soccer player - one who will settle that pass and bend it right back. Denny Vaninger, a prominent member of the aforementioned royalty, didn’t need any encouragement. He gave it up without being asked. “He was Mr. Soccer in this town,” Vaninger said. 

Vaninger played with McBride, who was 10 years his senior. Vaninger used to age-shame his teammate, tease him about how great it was to play with “my boyhood idol.” There was lots of irreverent Vaninger humor in that chirp, but there was more than a modicum of truth. 

The recipient would smile broadly at the dig, as he so often did. Save for Stan Musial’s, there wasn’t an easier smile to attain, or a more approachable “idol” in town. If McBride wasn’t the best soccer player to come out of St. Louis, he was the best reason to be a soccer player in St. Louis. The name, the presence, the smile stimulated so many. 

“I grew up watching Pat McBride,” Al Trost said in a recent interview. Trost followed in McBride’s star-studded cleats at SLU and subsequently played alongside professionally. “He is six years older than me, the same age as my older brother. I saw how good Pat became and how much he enjoyed the game, and I thought, ‘I could do that.’ ”

And to think McBride actually was cut from the freshman team at St. Louis U. High … An uninitiated scholastic was handed the coaching duties for “C” team that year. He didn’t know a soccer ball from a hood ornament, and when tryouts ended, he posted the roster on the cafeteria wall. The kid from Holy Rosary wasn’t on it. He was crushed. 

“I had tears rolling down my cheeks,” McBride recalled. “I’m not saying I was the best or anything, but I’d been a pretty good player in seventh and eighth grade. I just couldn’t believe it.” 

The omission was so egregious, the kids who were on the list went to the unenlightened coach and suggested he should give McBride another look. He did and the mistake was corrected. By sophomore year, McBride was playing varsity for the legendary Ebbie Dunn. 

McBride went on to command the midfield for Bob Guelker at St. Louis U., assisting forwards like Carl Gentile and Jack Kinealy. With them, the Billikens won national championships in 1963 and 1965, during an era (1959-73) in which they introduced many other names and captured 10 national titles in 16 years. 

At the time, SLU was the New York Yankees of college soccer and they had Joe DiMaggio patrolling center field - Pat McBride.  

In terms of numbers and titles, there’s plenty more to list. In 1963 he hd a 53-point season. After all these years, McBride still ranks seventh in school history with 46 goals and fourth in assists (38). And he still ranks first in unselfishness, humility and sincerity.  

McBride was a first-team All-American in 1964 and ’65. After his graduation from SLU, he became the first American-born player to sign with the North American Soccer League in 1967, then played for the NASL St. Louis Stars until 1976. In a league that featured Pele, Franz Beckenbauer and Giorgio Chinaglia, he was an All-Star selection three times. 

Internationally, McBride was a captain for the U.S. Men’s National Team and earned five caps. He also distinguished himself as a coach at SIU-Edwardsville, Meramec Community College, Forest Park Community College, and with the MISL's St. Louis Steamers. 

To start naming all the honors and halls of fame that adorn his name would just be showing off.

Last week, at the age of 81, McBride passed away rather unexpectedly. He is survived by his wife Barb, children Tim McBride, Kelly Travis, Brian McBride, as well as a sister, Lila Schmitz and grandchildren Hailey and Drew Travis and Caden and Graeme McBride. The service is scheduled for Saint Francis Xavier College Church at St. Louis University (3628 Lindell Blvd. 63108) on Saturday, December 21, 2024. Visitation is at 9 a.m., followed by a Memorial Mass at 10 a.m.

When the sad news got out, stories flooded the internet. Some referred to McBride as “The Father of Soccer.” In a sport that began here so many years before, not sure I can make that label stick.

But if Vaninger wants to call Pat McBride, “Mr. Soccer,” who am I to protest? And to corroborate, who better to consult than McDermott, who is often referred to as “Mr. Soccer” in St. Louis. Might as well go to the doctor’s doctor.  So, in a brief conversation with McDermott this week, the news about McBride came up. “Mr. Soccer’” McDermott said, before the question even got asked. Good enough for me.

Frankly, it doesn’t matter. Whether Pat McBride is the best player to ever come out of St. Louis is a question too large for me to answer. But if you ever attended one of his camps or clinics, ever heard him speak, ever in his company, shook his hand and felt like you’d known him your whole life, you know one thing for sure.

He was the best man you could ever hope to meet.