Former Pro Player and Coach Is Named Varsity Soccer Pilot

Former pro star George A. Ford will take over the reins of Harvard's varsity soccer team next year, succeeding J. Bruce Munro, who retired from the coaching post last fall after 26 seasons as the Crimson booters' leading light.

Robert B. Watson '37, director of Athletics, announced Ford's appointment on June 12 after a search committee decided to hire separate soccer and lacrosse coaches. Munro handled both jobs himself during his tenure at Harvard.

Former Brown lacrosse star Robert L. Scalise will take charge of the Crimson stickmen in addition to serving as assistant varsity soccer coach, Watson announced two weeks ago.

Ford is a retired pro soccer player who has coached teams in England and the United States. He entered the professional ranks with Burton Albion of the English Southern Division from 1961-63 and coached squads in Uttoxeter and Bristol during those three years.

After moving across the Atlantic in 1964, Ford played with the Detroit Cougars in the North American Soccer League and coached at Bryant College in Rhode Island. He is now teaching in the Woonsocket, R.I. school system.

Ford faces the task of rebuilding a Crimson team that last year suffered its worst season since 1956. Captain Steve Mead will have to help Ford make the transition to Ivy play if the booters are going to improve on their 1973 record of 3-7-2.

Scalise, who is only 24 years old, will face few problems if he can find a few stickmen who are as good as he was during his undergraduate career with the Bruins. He was named three-times to the All-Ivy lacrosse team, and was twice voted All-American.

For the last three years Scalise, who holds the New England record for most goals in a game, has been an assistant lacrosse coach at Brown.