Eight Decades at The Pingry School Bugliari Soccer – The Beginning From... wing-tip shoes he taught in. The first day of practice he introduced Miller as ‘a former player who was going to help with the coaching.’ We looked at him – he was dressed in what amounted to ratty gym clothes, to be kind about it − and we were saying to ourselves, ‘Who is this guy?’ We found out fast. “Mr. West just turned the practice over to Miller, who began by saying: ‘Gentlemen, we’re going to spend time getting in shape’ − this The New Coach to a bunch of guys who had done almost nothing before the season in In some ways, soccer was an afterthought in Pingry athletics from terms of running. He had us take a lap around the entire field, and the start of interscholastic athletics through the 1950s. As Troupe when the last player struggled in, Miller said, ‘That wasn’t fast enough. Noonan wrote in The Greatest Respect: Pingry at 150 Years, football Do it again.’ We ran that under Reese Williams and Mr. Les was “the straw that stirred the second lap a lot harder sports drink.” than the first. That T When Miller started coaching in 1959, everything changed. His goal established the tone for was not a winning season – that was a given – it was excellence, as the season. Miller drove measured in championships. His vision was that Pingry would become us incessantly, often not only the leading New Jersey prep school team, it would dominate taking the lead and Union County public schools. setting the pace.” But for Pingry as it entered the 1960s, such aspirations were, well, In the Fall 1994 unimaginable. Pingry was a small school whose students came largely issue of The Pingry Review, Mr. West demonstrating from affluent suburban homes – and who were expected to meet the “Soccer at Pingry,” Miller recalled proper technique – in his suit! most demanding academic standards. A “good season” was one in his first years as Pingry’s young which a team won more games than it lost, or even “tried hard” coach. “I was excited to try my hand at coaching on my own, to try my against tough opponents while winding up with a losing record. personal theories about training and fitness as they related to soccer.” Peter Wiley ’60 remembers Coach Frank West, who had guided His first players remember those “personal theories” well: at almost Pingry soccer for almost a quarter-century, as a deeply caring man every practice, Miller would have some often bizarre new drill for the with an abiding love for the game of soccer. “But none of us had come team, like dribbling the ball through traffic cones at full speed. Early even close to experiencing anything like Miller’s intensity, energy, and on, Miller began starting practices with what he told the team was the enthusiasm. He was like a big kid. Under Coach West we had practiced, “Hungarian National Team’s Warm-Up Drill,” Miller’s invention for but he didn’t really coach us. Miller coached us incessantly – in a a series of punishing leg-strengthening exercises that began with different game. For the first time, Miller had us learning and playing hopping, then cariocas at full speed, then lunges − until players’ thigh tactical soccer – a short passing game completely unlike toe-kicking muscles were on fire. He’d have players cool down with jumping jacks, the ball downfield and scrambling in front of the net.” and then start all over again. The October 2, 1959, Pingry Record noted: “With the addition of That was the foundation on which Pingry soccer under Miller was Mr. Miller Bugliari to the coaching staff, a special emphasis has been built: the highest possible expectations, superb conditioning, relentless put on conditioning.” Gordy Sulcer ’61, a junior on Miller’s first team, defense, a total enthusiasm for soccer, and the unswerving commitment remembers what “special emphasis” really meant. “We were used to to a team-based short passing game. Mr. West conducting practice in the same grey pin-striped suit and

84 Eight Decades at The Pingry School The 1960s: The Championship Quest And the challenge Pingry teams faced wasn’t just from the “Blended into my memories of coaching in the 1960s descendants of America’s earlier immigrants. Through the 1960s, local are recollections of the intensity and nervousness high school soccer teams were fueled by a steady influx of players that go with that responsibility.” whose families had recently arrived in New Jersey. If you look at the Miller, 1994 All-County and All-State teams in the 1960s, you see names like Kelley, The Challenge Fiorillo, Porchetta, Russo, Periera, Schiesswohl, Jurczak, Barroquiero, The year before Miller’s arrival, Pingry’s schedule reflected its prep Tsimanides, Dziadosz, Theofilos, and Majkut. These players were school identity, with opponents like Poly Prep, Rutgers Prep, skilled soccer players with deep roots in the rich heritage of countries Bordentown, Haverford, George School, Staten Island Academy, and like Ireland, Italy, Germany, Poland, Greece, and Argentina. The Riverdale. Pingry would often measure the success of its season against instinctive sense of and love for the game was in their blood. Blair Academy. But winning repeated prep school championships would Tmean beating boarding schools like Peddie, Hun, and Lawrenceville, whose teams were stocked with postgraduates, often All-County and “In my three years on the varsity soccer team, we worked harder than All-State players from the previous year, as well as with foreign students any other sports team at Pingry. The incessant running and relentless who had grown up playing soccer. conditioning was the ‘Red Badge of Courage’ that you earned as a Accomplishing that goal against the large Group III and IV Union Pingry soccer player. “Two other things really set Miller apart. We realized immediately County public schools was an even more daunting challenge. And it that he was a really skilled, experienced player who could defend wasn’t just the disparity in the size of the schools Pingry competed more tenaciously, control the ball better, and kick more accurately against. Pingry was located in one of the richest areas of the country and harder than any of us. He modeled for us the kind of player we in terms of high-level soccer. needed to become. In the mid-1800s, the Clark Thread Company from “And he was ‘Italian’ – he epitomized all the allure and deep Scotland opened plants in Kearny and Newark, importing traditions of the European game.” Les Buck ’64 hundreds of workers and their families to serve in the factories. The ensuing decades witnessed the opening of the silk mills in Paterson and the rapid growth of industrialized areas throughout Hudson, Union, and Out of gritty dirt fields like Farcher’s Grove in Union, the Gunnell Essex Counties. By the late 1920s and 1930s, soccer Oval in Kearny, Schutzenpark in North Bergen, Hinchcliff Stadium in clubs representing the huge influx of working-class Paterson, Passaic Sportfreunde Field in Wayne, and the famous old immigrant families had spread throughout New Jersey’s fields on Delancey Street and the Ironbound Stadium in Newark came industrial cities and neighborhoods: Scots and Irish not only the gifted, superbly skilled players like the United States in Kearny, Harrison, and Paterson; Portuguese and National Team stars of the 1990s and mid-2000s such as Tony Meola, Ukrainians in Newark’s Ironbound district; Germans John Harkes, Tab Ramos, Greg Berhalter, and Claudio Reyna, but and Italians in Union; Hungarians in New Brunswick; also the All-County high school players from Thomas Jefferson in and Spaniards in Bayonne. These clubs evolved into Elizabeth and from Linden, Union, and Edison Tech. They played semi-pro soccer leagues such as The American Soccer League, a different game than Pingry kids and defined the extraordinary level The German American League, The Schaefer League, and the of excellence Miller had to help Pingry players achieve in order to Italian American League, whose players stunned the soccer world win county championships. by beating England in the 1950 World Cup.

88 The Life & Times of Miller A. Bugliari

the same opportunity? Miller and his fellow coaches got approval initially for a four-team post-season tournament, but Miller realized “This Is Why We Don’t Lose” that too narrow a field might still leave good Pingry teams out of Bob Dwyer ’65 remembers a story that has been repeated in different consideration, so he fought and won the battle to expand the versions so many times it has become an indelible part of the Pingry tournament to eight teams. Soccer legend. “We beat BMI 4-0, but didn’t play particularly well, so Coach made us run laps afterwards. An astounded BMI player asked Building the Sport me: ‘You just killed us. What do you guys have to do if you lose?’ I replied: ‘This is why we don’t lose.’” Miller’s leadership then expanded to embrace the entire state. Bob Dwyer ’65 He was instrumental in helping create the New Jersey Soccer Coaches Association in 1968 and headed up their committee charged with formally ranking the Top 20 teams in New Jersey each week and guiding the selection of players to All-State and All-Group teams. Becoming Champions Looking back, Miller recalls, “In the early 1960s, high school Like a long-distance runner relentlessly, inexorably picking off soccer was still largely an ethnic thing limited to a few schools. competitors ahead of him to cross the finish line in first place, I believed soccer had a much greater potential value throughout Miller’s teams worked their way through the prep school competition New Jersey as a competitive sport. Done the right way and for the in the 1960s, relegating Blair and Peddie to also-rans and finally and right reasons, soccer – all sports, actually − could offer kids invaluable permanently taking the measure of Hun. That left the reigning experiences and lessons they would draw on the rest of their lives. pace-setter Lawrenceville, winner of 12 of the past 16 Prep School So we needed to find ways to make soccer attractive, get kids Championships, so loaded with postgraduate talent that Pingry would interested, and help schools build programs. The tournaments and never have dreamed of competing against them before Miller’s arrival. Coaches Association were ways to achieve that goal. When we Pingry’s first meeting with Lawrenceville in 1963 inaugurated a bitter started instituting clinics to upgrade the quality of coaching, soccer but successful rivalry that would last for more than another took off. In retrospect, what we did in Union County in the 1960s quarter-century. with soccer really opened a lot of doors for other emerging sports Becoming Union County Champions posed a more basic challenge. like hockey and lacrosse, and, just as important, for girls’ competitive In 1964 and 1965, Pingry went undefeated against the top Union athletics a few years later.” County teams, but watched teams they had beaten be awarded the championship based on points for wins and losses – and Pingry couldn’t In September 1959, a young, incredibly intense, and unproven rookie get enough public schools on the schedule to qualify. Miller remembers coach stood at the first day of practice looking at a senior-dominated thinking, “What do we have to do to win a championship!” team he didn’t know, taking in their curiosity − and skepticism. He The following year, working with equally visionary high school must have wondered, “Can they do it?” – and, more importantly, coaches like Frank Severage of Clark, Frank Chirichillo of Edison Tech, “Can I do it?” Herb Kassel of Jefferson, and Jim Jesky of Union, Miller took the Miller got his answer: his first decade ended with one unofficial initiative to petition the state to establish a Union County Tournament. and five official Prep School Championships. The goal of winning Convincing the more conservative athletic directors in Union County the Union County Tournament he had created, however, frustratingly on the value of innovative change turned out to be a struggle. Miller eluded Pingry through the 1960s. That would change, in dramatic was successful finally in leveraging the example of the county basketball fashion, starting in 1970. tournament – since it worked well in that sport, why not give soccer

89 Eight Decades at The Pingry School The 1970s: Union County Dominance

“What’s the secret of anything? It’s hard work and the attempt to be ready for every game … and we try to keep it fun.” Even though the Pingry soccer players called Waganaki “Miller’s Miller, 1975 illegal soccer camp,” Miller was careful to follow the state athletic association’s rules and restrictions on formally coaching his players in Throughout his career as a player, from his sophomore year at Pingry the summer. That doesn’t mean they didn’t work hard on developing through Springfield College and his years playing semi-pro soccer new skills and getting in shape – often until 9:00 at night. with the Westfield Lions, Miller had followed a simple, fundamental But competing against your teammates wasn’t enough. In order for principle: to win consistently against top competition you have to them to not only play the game at a higher level but actually feel the continuously improve your skills and understanding of the game. game of soccer, Miller knew his kids needed to develop against the The best way to do that is by practicing and competing against players best soccer talent in New Jersey. who are better than you. Each season, Miller used pre-season games Tto set players’ expectations for the level of soccer they needed to reach. Opponents included not only top-rated high school teams not on The Waganaki Soccer Camp Pingry’s schedule, but also the Penn freshman team. Rob Curtis started as a camper at Waganaki as a nine-year-old − Miller’s successful efforts in the 1960s to grow the sport of high which means that’s also when he started playing soccer. “Compared school soccer in New Jersey had the inevitable consequence of with the professional quality of Pingry soccer, Waganaki was pretty increasing the caliber of play of the teams Pingry needed to beat rough. We played on a rock-strewn field wearing soccer cleats or to win championships. sneakers, shorts or cut-off jeans, tube socks, and the Waganaki T-shirts That meant finding ways to continuously lift the level of the we were supposed to save for Sunday. And Waganaki was a small camp; putting age-group teams together for games and tournaments game for Pingry players. Miller needed not just dedicated, tough, with other camps was a challenge. It was typical to have nine- and hard-working athletes who would never quit; he needed soccer 10-year-old kids playing on the 12-and-under team. So growing up, players. But you can’t develop a soccer player in a couple of weeks you were competing with and against older players. And for young of pre-season practice and a 12-week season. Pingry’s rise to Pingry kids, our coaches were Miller’s varsity stars − players we become the dominant soccer team in Union County was forged idolized. Then, as an older camper myself, it became part of my job by the commitment of the players to work at their game during to get younger kids involved in the game and make them feel a part of the team. the off season. “The biggest impact on my growth as a player, however, was when For many players in the mid to late 1960s through the 1970s, Miller brought in two counselors from England, Roger Bruce and the “off season” was spent at Miller’s Camp Waganaki in Maine. Mike Prideaux, both of whom were soccer coaches with a whole new Younger campers gained the experience of competing against and approach to the game. It certainly helped me when I and the other learning from older, more experienced often All-County and All-State Waganaki kids returned to Pingry each fall. We were in good shape, players. For members of Miller’s team, a summer at Waganaki was our skills had developed, rather than becoming rusty, and we were mentally ready to start the season at a high level. It gave Pingry spent as counselors-in-training or as members of the infamous “kitchen a big, early edge on most of the teams we played.” crew.” Pete Borden ’65 remembers almost developing a hernia lugging Rob Curtis ’79 rocks off what would become the soccer field – when he wasn’t humping 50-pound potato sacks for Waganaki “chef” Larry Karet.

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In the mid-’70s, Miller initiated the Pingry Soccer Camp – the first the clubhouse they had raised such camp in New Jersey. Run by assistant coach Dan Phillips ’59, and wooden bleachers, but people now in its 42nd year, the camp exposed young players to some of the didn’t usually sit there. They lined best coaches in the country – and to the benefits of attending Pingry. the field. You learned to be really careful when you were playing the Farcher’s Grove ball next to the other team’s fans. But developing highly skilled players ultimately meant winter soccer on If you lofted the ball over the the frozen field of Farcher’s Grove in Union and the other tough fields 20-foot-high fence at one end, it of the German-American Soccer League. Art and Robbie Kurz’s father could bounce through the Sunoco was a member of the Elizabeth Sport Club and a sponsor of their station next door and start rolling semi-pro team, which would change its name in 1982 to the Union downhill on the street. Lancers. His sons had played at Farcher’s Grove in the youth programs “We got a lot of conditioning since they could first kick a soccer ball. He helped Miller, starting in the just sprinting after balls to keep mid-1960s, get his best kids onto league teams – the first prep school them from getting run over in the coach to start formally developing players out of season. Miller’s traffic. And the ‘locker room,’ if model was the public school stars who played soccer year-round you can call it that, was a cinder because that’s just what they did – they were soccer players. block building that hadn’t been painted – or cleaned – for decades. Sean O’Donnell ’75, who captained the 1974 team and went on to The shower room had three shower heads …and lots of mold. Getting star at the University of Pennsylvania, was just such a “soccer player.” to the bottom of it would have been like an architectural dig.” He began playing at Farcher’s Grove with his buddies as a little kid, Christopher Merrill’s The Grass of Another Country is a fascinating using empty beer kegs from Farcher’s bar for goals. “There was nothing history of the growth of soccer in New Jersey and the United States even close to fancy about Farcher’s,” Sean remembers. “The dirt field leading up to the 1990 World Cup – and a must-read for fans of both was bounded on one side by the train tracks and on the other by the the U.S. Men’s National Team and Pingry soccer. In it, he relates his river, with the PSE&G substation in the rear. The far side of the field own experiences playing at Farcher’s when he was Sean’s Pingry was fenced in – right next to the field. If you overran the touchline teammate. “I remembered training here under the lights in midwinter: you smashed right into the chain link fence. On the other side by how the cleat marks, divots, and holes in the mud would freeze until the field was harder and rougher than a cobblestone street. Good players like Sean learned to run with short strides, moving their feet constantly, hoping not to turn an ankle. They learned to trap the ball with a minimum of effort, dribble it close to their feet so that it would not get away from them, adapt instantly to balls ricocheting off the ground, deliver to their teammates quick, accurate passes, and pray for the best.” Brian O’Donnell ’81 remembers watching the old New York Cosmos with their team of international stars play an exhibition at Farcher’s. “Pelé handled the ball on the rutted field easily. That wasn’t a surprise. But Franz Beckenbauer had a nightmare game of bad passes.” Grass couldn’t grow on Farcher’s field, but something else did: Pingry’s 1970s dominance as Union County champions.

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