Portland Timbers’ Post

Transcript

In the town where the bulls grow, church bells ringing every hours. We'll be coming off. Ships coming in Cleves Legacy is soccer and Portland. And soccer in the US. There is no thought of Soccer City USA without Clive. Clive's legacy is amazing for what he's done and built in this area and what he did with soccer and this city was amazing. Clive's legacy is connection and relationships that could be on the pitch, that could be in daily life because of his connections, because of his relationships with people. That's why his legacy lives on. Which in all of us? We try and take that and and further it every single day and he instilled that everybody that he was around didn't matter who it was. Clive's legacy is people. Whatever lasting. Yeah. You won't die with this, that's for sure. Tiff came to Portland when it was not called to be a Portland, and the reason we won this today is because of her. Thank you very much for this, it's a great honour and I appreciate it. Drivers are very good. Soccer player. On a very, um, great human being when you think of them. For me, when I think of them as a coach, he was, he was simple, but exceptionally detailed. He was humorous, but very serious. He had such an incredible ability to be able to connect with all players, whether it was on the field or personally. The player that played every minute and the player that barely ever played. Still had the same relationship with Clive. Everybody was the individual first. Everybody was what's best for this person. It's the honesty, it's the respect. This is about where you are at your point as a student athlete, helping the team and the and the university be successful. But it's still about you as the student athlete first. He always had a quip. It was, it was faster. Throw anything back at you, you know, a joke and a smile. But he never took himself seriously. He really, he took the sport seriously as a player and as a coach, but as a person he was able to laugh at himself and draw other people into it. So he set a wonderful atmosphere. It was always fun to be around. He was, he was a happy, positive person all the time. I have to laugh because he brings a left to people and it brings a smile to your face. It tells you sort of the humour and the joy that he brought to people's life. At West Ham substitutes Clive Charles getting changed there. Charles takes the kick. Client was a fantastic player. I mean, I think that. Played most of his time, he played at a life defender, a left time. He was kind of a little bit in some ways ahead of his time. He was a lot of defenders in those days were were very physical and Clive was more technical. Lampard played nicely there for Charles, turned on again nicely there for Lampard and a good husband, great teammate, always talking, always chirping, organising, talking, push out, get to the ball, goal side, whatever it was used. Just these short things. Maybe we were jealous because he could just run and run and run, you know. So that was meant he was able to get up and down the park, attack, defend. And as you said, he he was and he had a very, very good left foot. So he's very technical and very cerebral in in his game. Pilate chose him in his NASL All Star team one time as the starting left back. Say something about his quality in that league at that time. You know, climate division, he said. We were going to get a stadium, which we did, and we were going to win national championship. When you when you think about a visionary, you usually think about, you know, the guys that start Apple and the guys that starts, you know, all the big companies. But Clive was in the sport. Clive was a visionary. By the way, he built that program and he brought quality players in and, you know, getting Harry Melvin involved and creating the stadium and all the things that he did to create the men's and the women's program was just. That just shows you the quality of the coach that he was. Yeah, I mean, there's a top class program in the players that Clive had developed. I mean you're you're Tiffany Mobridge, Michelle French, Shannon McMillan. I mean myself growing up, those are the players I idolized. They came to UP because of Clive and they came to Clive because two things, his ability as a coach, but also his interest in them as a human being. The players had a great relationship with him. When there was work to be done, there was serious, but there was always that chance of a lighthearted moment or two during the practice session. You know, he just allowed you to play as a coach and be free and really find ways to bring out the best in you where you were able to enjoy every time you stepped on the field. Instead of feeling this nervousness, it was all about being the best that you could be as a player for yourself and for your teammates. And that was going to lead to team success. Yes, the wins, the losses, the formations, the tactics, the all these things do matter. But not at the expense of people. He would put his care over individual players, over the success of the team. He always had the kids at heart, the players. So every decision he made, he had the players attire. Clive never lost view of that vantage point. And about the players, it wasn't always the results. It was about them, as you know, whole human beings. He knew it was he was doing on the pitch, obviously and. Just like a genius, but the thing I remember is how he was able to connect with all his players. I can't think of another person that has had such an impact on a specific community. Then Clive has what he did was soccer with building the University of Portland program and then being involved in other aspects of, you know, getting to the US national team and, and, and doing other things as well was just amazing. I think all these guys out here, not all these women out here now should be thankful for him. He helped to put. Lay the foundations for all this here. I just know that I've been blessed to be a part of and. His, his footprint is everywhere here. Everybody was touched by him in some way, whether it was in our ODP system when we were youth players was the national team systems, whether in the college systems, all of us were around him in in some fashion or another. And so his impact on us and then how we've carried ourselves furthering the game, you know, in our time, it just keeps living on. He did things the right way and I think people really appreciated that. And you know, Portland is what. It is in terms of the soccer community, big part because of Clive. When they had the memorial service, they're UPS. There's 1000 people in the hall. I'm up on the second tier somewhere and I'm looking down. And I said to my wife Linda, I said. Everyone of those people have a story about Clive. And if you put them in the 1000 separate rooms and ask them to summarize it in two or three minutes, it would all be the same genuine integrity. Love these players, great coach, fun to be around, all the same stuff. Not only did he was he coaching the men's team, coaching the women's team, doing stuff with the national team, then starting FC Portland and doing it on the youth side. And to bring, you know, all that full circle for for everybody was. Was why was why we're sitting here today is why, you know, Portland has been, you know, such a a great, you know, soccer town for. 30-40 fifty years. All of us that were able to know him and be coached by him and be mentored by him. We carry a piece of him with us. He may be gone, but his, yeah, his impact will be here forever.