RIP, Joe Platt

The world of youth soccer lost a good one today when Joe Platt, long-time president of the South Jersey Girls Soccer League, died this morning. I was privileged to know Joe from when I coached his daughter, Erica, more than 15 years ago, and afterwards. He was truly one of the good guys in the sport.

Usually I am happy to hear from a former player, but the e-mail from Erica Platt Barney today brought the sad news of Joe's sudden passing. Erica, one of the nicest girls I ever coached, said, " I know my father had a wonderful impact on so many lives over the years . . . Through sports and Corpus Christi, work, the community and his Christian walk in life he has met so many wonderful people and I hope I can speak for everyone that he has left a wonderful memory in the hearts of us all."

Rest assured, dear Erica, that your Dad did indeed leave a wonderful memory in the hearts of us all in the South Jersey soccer community - and far beyond.

Well? Long-time Philly sportswriter Phil Jasner dies

Sportswriting lost a good one yesterday with the untimely death of Philadelphia Daily News professional basketball beat write, Phil Jasner, at age 68.

Although he became nationally known as a basketball writer, and was one of the best at it, I actually got to know Phil as a soccer writer back in ’73 when he and I covered the Philadelphia Atoms of the North American Soccer League at Veterans Stadium (and occasionally on the road). Phil had recently made the step from small suburban papers to the big-time Daily News while I was on the news staff at the Courier-Post, but covering the Atoms for the league magazine based in Toronto.

Phil was one of my favorites among the daily papers’ writers covering the team. Aside from being a real pro as a sportswriter, he had a great sense of humor and was a good guy to be around. He wasted no words and after a game would go up to Atoms coach Al Miller and say something like, “Reaction?” or “Well?” and then sit back and listen, getting more than enough material for the next day’s story.

Read Rich Hoffman’s tribute in the Daily News to a life well-lived.

As an aside, Daily News columnist and former sports editor Stan Hochman, is quoted in Hoffman’s piece about Jasner’s time covering the Atoms: "Relentless is the way I remember his reporting style back in those days, ever on the prowl for human interest stories. We had a soccer team back then, the Atoms. Half the team spoke no English, but that didn't stop Phil. They won a title and one of the star players wanted to celebrate with champagne. So he bought a bunch of long-necked, gilt-wrapped bottles in a drugstore, thinking they were champagne. Turned out he'd bought shampoo. Phil wrote a memorable story about it."

Makes for a good anecdote about Phil, hanging out with those typical foreigners who play soccer. Except it’s not true. Every player on the 1973 Atoms spoke English. I knew them all and remember them all: Americans - Bob Rigby, Norm Wingert, Stan Startzell, Charlie Ducilli, Lew Meehl, Barry Barto, Bob Smith, Bill Straub, Casey Bahr; British/Scottish - George O’Neill, Chris Dunleavy, Jim Fryatt, Andy Provan, Roy Evans, Derek Trevis; Germans - Karl Minor, Manny Schellscheidt: Jamaican - Raymond Parri

I had originally commented on how I thought Stan was playing off stereotypes of soccer being played mostly by foreigners who don't speak English. I e-mailed him to that effect and he took exception to my "smart-ass comment," correctly pointing out that he was asked for a memory of Phil Jasner and thinking back 37 years that he remembered the Atoms as including a bunch of Mexicans. (They came in '76, when I was no longer covering them.) He pleaded as a defense his (understandable) sadness in losing a long-friend and colleague. I e-mailed an apology and I hope he accepts it.