![]() The explosion of youth soccer in the early 70s was instrumental to its growth in high schools. Section winners played for the WPIAL championship. Clair also started programs to form a south section. Shaler, North Allegheny and North Hills started programs and there became a north section. What was the biggest factor in the explosion of high school soccer where now over 100 WPIAL schools have boys and girls programs?Ĭhanging soccer to a fall sport in 1965 was significant. With football players on many of the rosters, the game often became quite physical. If there was a tie, there was a playoff game. Whoever had the best record was the WPIAL champion. Springdale, Chartiers Valley, South Fayette, Snowden (now South Park), Charleroi and Monongahela. They were also our biggest rival due to their success. FC and Springdale were the only schools in the north who played soccer. My first year at FC, 1963-64, soccer was played in the spring. What was it like in the early days when there were so few schools sponsoring soccer? Was the section winner considered the WPIAL champion? I think this stability has as much to do with the history of success at FC as anything. All of them had a soccer background going into the position. There have only been four head coaches since 1961. We always had a couple on our most successful teams. Being the physical ed teacher at the junior high, I was able to recruit athletes to play soccer as their second sport. This enabled soccer development at the junior high to continue. I moved to the junior high in 1968 to coach that team as Jack Jarvie, another All-American at Slippery Rock, got out of teaching. FC had several football players on their soccer team. Soccer was played in the spring then, so some schools used it as spring football practice. His passion for the game and knowledge attracted many of the boys at FC. ![]() He had been an All-American at Slippery Rock and insisted the school have a boys soccer program. When the school district was formed, Ed Boyle was a physical ed teacher at Kerr Elementary School in O’Hara Twp. How was Fox Chapel able to achieve such success in soccer during the early days of the school district and how were you able to sustain it? Perry recently took a few minutes to talkabout his career. Perry has been inducted into The Western Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame (1992), Fox Chapel Area Schools Hall of Fame (1999), the PA Soccer Coaches Association Hall of Fame (2003), the Alle-Kiski Valley Sports Hall of Fame (2007) and Slippery Rock University’s first Soccer Ring of Honor in 2011. He compiled a 255-86-25 record as head coach of Fox Chapel, winning a WPIAL crown in 1987 and the PIAA title in 1990. His Foxes won nine section titles during his tenure and made the playoffs 15 of the 19 seasons. ![]() He was the head coach for 19 seasons, retiring in 1990. Jim Perry started as an assistant in 1964 under coach Ed Boyle and took over the program in 1972. ![]() With Fox Chapel in the WPIAL boys soccer playoffs for the 22nd consecutive season, it’s a good time to have a conversation with the man who was instrumental in putting the program on the map. ![]()
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