HBCU soccer is lastly honoring the legacy of Edward Damage, and now it’s time for the School Soccer Corridor of Fame to do the identical.
The long-time Morgan State soccer and monitor coach has as soon as once more been positioned on the School Soccer Corridor of Fame poll. He’s one in every of a number of HBCU legends on the poll this 12 months, and maybe, essentially the most overdue.
Damage’s Morgan State groups of the Nineteen Thirties and Forties have been a few of the most dominant in faculty soccer historical past. From 1931 to 1938 his Bears by no means misplaced a sport, for a complete of 54 video games in a row with no loss. General, his groups at Morgan completed with 11 unbeaten seasons, together with a 1943 group that didn’t enable an opponent to attain. He led this system to 14 CIAA soccer championships from the time he arrived from a brief stint instructing and training at Virginia College of Lynchburg in 1929 till he retired in 1959.
And that’s simply what he did on the soccer area. He additionally turned Morgan State into one of many first HBCU monitor juggernauts. His group’s received 13 CIAA championships, eight NCAA champions, three NCAA relay championships, and one Olympic gold medalist in George Rhoden. He additionally led the basketball program to 4 CIAA visitation basketball titles.
His resume is spectacular, to say the least. So why is he not within the School Soccer Corridor of Fame already?
The unlucky reality is that coaches like Damage and Hampton’s Gideon Smith (who can be nominated as soon as once more) constantly have their achievements under-appreciated. HBCU coaches who spent most, if not all, of their careers previous to the NFL’s integration in 1946 usually are usually disregarded. Not solely by the mainstream but in addition amongst the HBCU group as properly. Eddie Damage was simply inducted to the Black School Soccer Corridor of Fame on Saturday. Gideon Smith continues to be ready.
For the primary twenty years of Damage’s profession, his finest gamers have been denied the chance to play within the NFL. Coaches like Eddie Robinson, Jake Gaither, and John Merritt have all been given their due for his or her group’s successes on the sector and producing professionals. However these males, in the event that they have been right here at present, would let you know that they stand on the shoulders of greats like Damage and Gideon.
Damage did handle to supply two Professional Soccer Corridor of Famers. Len Ford and Rosevelt Brown are each members of the Hallowed Corridor. However there is no such thing as a telling what number of extra he would have had within the Nineteen Thirties and 40s had been allowed to play within the NFL. Names like Thomas “Tank” Conrad, Brutus Wilson, and Otis Troupe might have performed soccer on the highest stage in the event that they have been allowed, but it surely wasn’t an possibility.
Sure, Morgan State was blessed with expertise beneath Edward Damage. With no SEC or ACC recruiting black athletes, he just about had his decide of athletes east of the Mississippi River. However Damage was additionally lauded as a grasp tactician and strategist. The Howard alumnus was a math wizard who used each side of his mind whereas mapping out performs.
“It’s all a matter of timing,” he informed the AP in 1937 as his group continued to dominate. “In science, you received’t be happy with something lower than exactness. You want the identical exactness in teaching a soccer sport. You see, soccer is simply utilized arithmetic.”
Had Damage had a distinct hue and the identical teaching resume at Maryland or Penn throughout the identical period, he would have been one of many founding members of the School Soccer Corridor of Fame. Or if he had 4 or 5 Professional Soccer Corridor of Famers, he’d seemingly be in there as properly. However sadly, as a result of he did it at a black faculty with nothing on movie, his accomplishments seemingly don’t fairly measure up.
Coaches like Edward Damage and his contemporaries don’t have many advocates in these Corridor of Fame discussions. I don’t have a vote on any of them. Nevertheless it’s past time to do the appropriate factor and get Edward P. Damage within the School Soccer Corridor of Fame.
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