4070 Butler Pike, Suite 100, Plymouth Meeting PA 19462
610-940-5755 phn 610-238-9933 fax eastpasoccer@gmail.com
Hall of Fame 2020
Joseph Amorim
Joseph Amorim was born in Portugal to a family full of soccer culture. The Amorim family immigrated to the United States in the mid-1960s where he pursued his love of the game. Joe began his soccer coaching career at St. James High school in Chester PA, earned his USSF “A” coaching license and, after only four years, brought the team to the Philadelphia Catholic League Division Championship. Joe was a Board member for the United Soccer League where he also coached the Philadelphia Portuguese Men’s Majors team who were First Division Champions. His work in soccer continued with his appointment as the Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Head State Coach in charge of Coaching Development, Olympic Development, and the State Camp program, while also serving on the board as General Secretary of the Eastern Pennsylvania Soccer Association.
In 1983, after working as an assistant coach for a year, Joe was hired as Head Coach for the Men’s Soccer program at Haverford College - a position he held for 26 years. He holds the record of most wins (215!) by any coach in the history of the oldest organized soccer team in the country. His Haverford College team won the MAC Championships in 1988 and the MAC South Division Championships in 1984, 1988 and 1992. For many years during the summer months Joe organized a summer soccer camp at Haverford College.
Joe retired in 2008 and since then he has been honored to receive the EPYSA Excellence in Coaching Award and in 2015 was inducted into the Southeastern Pennsylvania Soccer Hall of Fame. In his retirement, you can find Joe in the garden, enjoying a good book, traveling and developing his culinary expertise.
Frans Griet
Frans Griet was born in Bandoeng, Indonesia in 1935. During WWII his family immigrated to Holland, where Frans lived until coming to the United States in 1961. Although he played some soccer as a youth, he began his life-long soccer career coaching his five-year-old son Steven, and six-year-old daughter Vivian, in Roslyn intramurals. He moved on to coaching them in travel, as well as his daughter April’s team, which were consistently strong and winning multiple championships. During the summer of 1977 his boys team traveled across Europe playing local clubs, and Frans acted as interpreter as he spoke many different languages fluently!
Throughout his career, he continued coaching all three of his children’s soccer teams, and as they grew up, he moved up with them, coaching at the adult level for Roslyn in the Inter-County Soccer League. Many of his youth players played for him as adults in the ICSL and in the Summer League. He took the Roslyn women’s senior and girl’s teams to Europe in 1996, again traveling the countries and playing local clubs. Both Steven and April were influenced by their father’s dedication, and were assistant coaches for his youth teams, where they shared the same enjoyment for the sport as Frans.
Often considered his claim to fame, in 1992 Frans pioneered and launched the Women’s Summer Soccer League, which continues to this day, and for which April continues to play. In his honor it has been renamed the Frans Griet Women’s Summer Soccer League and is now run by Rick Tompkins.
The secret to Frans’ success in soccer was his underlying passion and commitment to the sport, wanting only to share his knowledge, expertise and joy in playing. He was a well-respected mentor to his players, parents and coaches. He held practices every day in the summer – being on the field was his happy place! Frans was never motivated by money or personal gain; instead, his motivation was instilling sportsmanship and a life-long devotion for the sport he so dearly loved.
Frans impacted many lives, and whether someone knew him for a season or for decades, they will each remember him in their own special way.
Blair Thomas
Blair Thomson was born in Glasgow Scotland, where his love for the game began at age 5, playing for the local youth programs in Scotland. A talented player, he was with two different semi-professional clubs in Scotland and Denmark, before coming to the United States in 1975, where he started his coaching career.
Blair worked with the Philadelphia Police Athletic League for almost 10 years, winning five championships. After that he was involved with the United Soccer League, coaching the men in the United German Hungarian SC, Phoenix SC and the Lancaster Spartans. Blair worked closely with his players, continually inspiring and motivating them – and his hard work paid off as he brought home numerous titles, most notably six United Soccer League championships, three EPSA Open Cup and seven EPSA Amateur Cup championships, and too many to list tournament championships. His teams often went on to the USASA Region 1 finals, and his Over 30 Men’s team went on to win the USASA National final. Blair’s passion and dedication to the game was evident in his 1000+ games coached and his 85% winning record.
Administratively, Blair was a member of the Eastern Pennsylvania Soccer Association Executive Board as 2nd Vice-president for many years, and received the prestigious South Eastern Pennsylvania Soccer Hall of Fame (formerly the Philadelphia Old Timers) award.
In his retirement, Blair enjoys writing poetry (something he’s done for many years) and is an active member of the Moose Lodge in Sellersville PA. He lives with his wife Elizabeth and has two grown sons, Carlsen and Blair Currie.