Back in 1962, before there was a retaining wall on the eastern side of the field at South Sunset Playground, before there was artificial turf with painted lines, and before there were lights enabling games to be played after sundown, the natural grass that covered the playing field extended up the hill to the fence line. If my memory is accurate, the hillside was commonly referred to as “the bank.” Today, along with all the other improvements to the park, the hillside is covered with drought-tolerant landscaping — not an ideal place to sit and watch a game.
Sixty years ago, on a typically foggy Sunset District afternoon, my Dad and I walked from our home on 38th Avenue to South Sunset Playground. I was seven years old at the time. I followed my Dad up to the grass field and we climbed about halfway up the bank and sat down. Dad didn’t say much at first. There was a group of boys running around on the grass kicking a ball. An older man was barking instructions to them, occasionally stopping play and explaining something to the players. I’d never seen the game before, so I just watched.
After a while, Dad explained to me that the boys were playing a game called soccer. Apparently, the game was quite popular in Central and South America, as well as in Europe. Dad told me that the coach, the man instructing the kids on the field, was a former professional soccer player. His name was Ernie Feibusch.
Coach Feibusch was born in Berlin, Germany in 1925, the same year my Dad was born in San Francisco. He moved with his family to The City when he was 12 years old. He played soccer at San Francisco State University and professionally for the Vikings Soccer Club of San Francisco. After retiring as a player in 1955, Feibusch began a lengthy teaching and coaching career at Lowell High School. He also founded the Vikings Youth Soccer Program, an organization that introduced thousands of young San Franciscans to the game of soccer. It was one of those Vikings teams that was practicing on the South Sunset field that foggy afternoon in 1962.
After we’d been watching the practice for about half an hour, Dad asked me, “Would you like to play?” I was so jazzed. We walked down to the field and Dad approached Coach Feibusch. The next thing I knew, I was running around with the other guys learning the game of soccer. Our practices were held at South Sunset or at Lowell High School. Our games were played at Beach Chalet and Crocker Amazon Park. I played for the Vikings for about five years. I was always proud to wear the red and white striped uniform jersey.
Sadly, Coach Feibusch, who lived on Taraval Street between 38th and 38th Avenues, died from complications from Covid-19 in 2020. He is a member of the United States Soccer Hall of Fame, the San Francisco Prep Hall of Fame, and the Lowell Sports Foundation Hall of Fame. In his years at Lowell, his teams won 20 City Championships. I will be forever grateful for the opportunity to learn the game of soccer from such a knowledgeable and accomplished coach.
(A side note: Two Lowell coaches combined for a total of more than 1,400 victories. Coach Feibusch’s soccer teams won 670 games, while Coach John Donohue’s Lowell baseball teams accounted for another 735 wins!)
