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Willie Anderson joined the Portland Timbers on loan in 1975 and loved the experience so much that he came back in 1977. Anderson is pictured here in 1977 (right) and 2005 (left).

(Ross William Hamilton/The Oregonian)

The Portland Timbers had already played two games when Willie Anderson arrived in Portland in 1975.

The Liverpool, England native joined the Timbers that summer on loan from English club Cardiff City and quickly settled into Portland's starting lineup on the wing. Anderson was a big reason why the Timbers were able to post a 16-6 record and win the Western Division Championship title in 1975.

The Timbers went on to face rival Seattle Sounders in the first round of the playoffs that season. At the end of regulation, the two teams were locked in a 1-1 tie and the game went into sudden-death overtime.

The historic match finally came to a glorious end for the Timbers when Anderson crossed the ball into the box to Tony Betts, who headed in the game-winning goal to give Portland the 2-1 victory and ignite a crowd of more than 30,000. The Timbers went on to beat the St. Louis Stars in the semi-finals, before falling to the Tampa Bay Rowdies in the Soccer Bowl.

Anderson missed the 1976 season, but returned to Portland in 1977 and continued to compete for the club until it folded in 1982.

After retiring from professional soccer, Anderson remained in Portland and took a job selling advertising for classical music station KKSN. Today, he is semi-retired and works part-time as an account executive for All Classical 89.9 KQAC FM Portland. Anderson is also the girls varsity soccer coach at Riverdale High School.

The Oregonian/OregonLive recently sat down with Anderson to discuss his decision to come to Portland, his favorite memories from the 1975 season and his thoughts on today's Portland Timbers.

You were playing in England and decided to come over to the Timbers on loan in 1975. How did the opportunity to come to Portland come about?

Vic Crowe was Portland's first coach ever and I had played for him in England at Aston Villa. I remember going out to watch a mate of mine, Brian Godfrey, play. We had played together under Vic at Aston Villa. I went out and watched him play and we had a drink after the game in England and he said, 'You know what I'm doing this summer?' and I said, 'No, what's that?' He said, 'I'm going to play in America.' I said, 'How did you work that out.' He said, 'Vic Crowe is putting a team together' and all I said to him is, 'Tell Vic that I'd be interested.' Two days later, Vic called me and said, 'Here's the deal. Would you be interested in playing?' And I said, 'God, yeah, if you can work it out with my team.'

Did you know anything about Portland before arriving?

No, I had no idea where I was going. I didn't even know the name of the team. I remember sitting on a plane from Seattle to Portland next to this guy and he said, 'What's the name of the team?' I had no idea. I said, 'I think it's the Portland Trees or something.'

I remember talking to Vic Crowe before arriving and he told me the team was in Portland and I said, 'Where's that?' He said, 'It's in Oregon.' I said, 'Where's that?' He said, 'It's the next state to California.' I said, 'Oh great, is the weather like California?' And he said, 'Yeah.' For the first two weeks I was here it rained everyday. Not exactly California, but I didn't care. I'm from England.

With the Portland Timbers set to begin their 40th anniversary season in 2015, The Oregonian wants to tell the story of the people behind the team with our 'Timbers at 40' series. Fans, players, coaches or anyone involved with the Portland Timbers are invited to contact us with their tales of the Timbers and how soccer in the Rose City has impacted their life. If you would like to share your story with Timbers beat reporter Jamie Goldberg, please send us a note.

What are some of the memories that stood out for you that first season?

I remember I came late because my team that I was playing with back home was in the final. So, I came later than everybody else. They'd played two games when I got here, I think. My first game was away in Vancouver, B.C. I flew into America Thursday. I was absolutely wrecked when I got in Thursday night because of the time change and jetlag and I didn't even go to practice. Vic Crowe said, 'How do you feel? You want to play?' and I said, 'Yeah, I can play.'

I flew up to Vancouver with the team and I remember in the locker room before the game, I got my uniform and it had No. 12 on it and in England No. 12 meant you were the substitute. So, I got really mad. I told Vic, 'I'm not coming all the way from England to sit on the bench.' I'm going off on him and he goes, 'No, no, no. That's your number for the whole season. You are No. 12.' It had my name on the shirt. He said, 'It doesn't mean you're not on the team. It just means that's your shirt.' So, I played and I think we beat them 2-0. That's my first memory.

What kind of things did you guys do when you weren't at the field?

Our lifestyle was great. Blitz was one of our sponsors, which was a huge brewery here at the time and every week they'd give us a 24 pack each as part of the deal. We all lived in the same complex with a pool. We would practice in the morning and every afternoon we were off and we would sit around the pool with all the wives and kids and a few beers. That was our lifestyle. It was great. We were all English and we all bonded and put it together really quickly. It just all came together. We had a great time practicing. We were winning games like crazy.

I've heard you guys we're pretty involved in the community as well?

We were really involved in the community, not because we were told to do it, but because people were so friendly. People were telling us to come over for dinner all the time. You could go out to dinner every night of the week at somebody's house. The fans just wanted to meet you. It was great because it got us out and it was something different...

We did a lot of community involvement, going out and doing clinics. They figured out pretty quickly that it was the quickest way to get fans. The Blazers were really big then, but you couldn't get near the Blazers. People called us these little English guys in shorts that talked funny, but we were accessible. We did malls and all kinds of things, signing autographs. If people come and meet you, they'll come and watch you. I think they figured that out. The crowd just kept growing. We were winning too, maybe if we had lost every game, it would have been different, but we were really successful.

What made you want to return to Portland after that first season?

I was just at the time in my life where I wanted to do something else. I'd played in England since I was 15 and I was 28 when I got the opportunity to come out here only on loan just for four months and then I went back and played for my team back home. But those four months killed me. It was like, 'That's it. I'm going back.'

I missed the '76 season because my team wouldn't let me come back because we made playoffs that first season with the Timbers and I missed the first two weeks of my team back home's season to stay here. They wanted me to come back after the regular season and I told them, 'I'm not coming back. We're in the playoffs.' So, they got PO'ed about that. They wouldn't let me come back the year after. Then the Timbers came in and bought my contract out, so I came back in '77.

How would compare today's team to the 1975 team?

It's as big as we were, maybe bigger now, but we drew 33,000 to one game and the team now can't say that. Just having the MLS here in Portland, it's spread nationwide now. It's on TV all the time. People watch it, see the crowd and everyone remembers the Timbers, the Timbers Army, just for the fan base. It's just a big kudos for the city. The '75 Timbers I think got the ball rolling for every thing that came after. We set the groundwork for that and really the fan base. It was the NASL team that really put it on the map for Portland. Kudos to these guys that took all that and ran with it...

We always had a great fan base here. When we came here, you couldn't find a soccer field to do a clinic on, nobody had one. There was some people playing soccer, but very few and we just opened the gates. Little kids would come and watch the game and want to play. We started the ball rolling and it rolled pretty quickly because we were pretty successful, which was good and bad. It was great that it got everybody into it, but it was bad because you could never repeat that success from 1975. We could never do a season like that again. The only way they are going to replicate that now is if they win (the MLS Cup). That's the only way they can shake that '75 team. They have to win it.

-- Jamie Goldberg | jgoldberg@oregonian.com

503-853-3761 | @jamiebgoldberg

In honor of the 40th anniversary of the Portland Timbers, The Oregonian/OregonLive will be running a Q&A series this year with the players that competed for the Timbers during the club's inaugural 1975 season. This is the second installment of our 1975 Portland Timbers Q&A series.