It was a cold, rainy Saturday in February, 1975 when Manchester Soccer Club (the Texas version) was born. About 12 guys (only one of whom had ever played soccer) gathered in the cold, teeth chattering, in the parking lot of J. J. Pearce High School. Most had come after seeing an ad in the Richardson News that an “Over-the-hill” team was being formed. Most didn’t really know much about what they were getting into. A fella in a warm-up suit approached the group standing in the light drizzle. It was Jim Lockett president of the “Over-the-hill” league and later founding father of the soon to be sanctioned senior league called North Texas Premier Soccer Association. Jim looked at the damp crowd of 12 and said, “OK, you’re a team. You’ll be in the fourth division. This is the Spring season.”

Almost in the same breath, he asked if anyone had ever played soccer before. Jim Guardipee raised his hand. As the only one there with any real soccer experience, he was a shoo-in for Captain, much to the later consternation of his wife. Dennis D’Amico (the only person from the original team left playing as of Year 2000) was chosen by Jim to assist him. The next season Dennis took over as Captain, although Jim performed much of the soccer teaching instruction. That first M. S. C. team tied one game, and lost all of the rest in that first season. The next season, buoyed by an influx of new players, Manchester Soccer Club won the fourth division championship, the first in a long line of victories over more than 25 years.

ManchesterSC Green? Color Others With Envy.

The selection of the Cub’s official colors of green and white was no less a matter of chance and indifference as was the naming of the team. True to form, uniforms were almost an after-thought. So, one night after practice a uniform retailer, working out of a van, drove up to sell the brand new ManchesterSC some brand new uniforms. Since there was no tradition, no previous preferences, or references to the English team, only the whims of the players would stand in the way of selecting a uniform. Wrong! After going through his selection of samples, and everyone discussing the merits of various styles and colors, we were awakened to the fact that the retailer could not deliver any uniforms in time for our first few games. He had only one kind of shirt and one color available. Yep, you guessed it. A green crew neck, Admiral Brand shirt was all he had. And so, M. S. C., with no time left, and belying our almost namesake’s traditional colors, adopted green and white.