Bruce Wilson has a vivid memory when he was a little tyke living on Union Street in North Burnaby when his father first took him and his brother, two years older than Bruce, to Confederation Park for a training session in his father’s favourite sport. Soccer was soon Bruce’s favourite, too. Still is.

“I kind of followed my brother,” recalls Wilson after finding out he had been chosen for induction into the Burnaby Sports Hall of Fame for his outstanding career in the North American Soccer League (NASL) and being captain of the only Canadian team to play in the World Cup. “I really didn’t know a lot about the rules. I was a good runner, I’d played soccer in the backyard, and I really did enjoy going out [to play].”

article continues below

Because of his brother, Wilson ended up playing with boys a couple years older than him. It was difficult, he admits, but it may have worked out to his advantage.

“The kids were much bigger so I quickly had to become quick. I had to run quick and move the ball quick because I was playing against much bigger, stronger kids,” says Wilson, who went on to star for Norburn A.C. all the way up to the juvenile age group winning provincial championships in 1964 and 1967.

Although the hardship of being a little brother might have seemed like bad timing for Wilson at the time, the tougher competition worked to his advantage. His timing worked out even better when he grew up. While attending UBC, Wilson played for the renowned Columbus men’s team in the super strong local men’s league. And just as he graduated with an education degree, the Vancouver Whitecaps and the NASL came to town in 1974.

The Whitecaps held a trial for local players under the watchful eyes of the team’s first coach Jimmy Easton and national team head coach Eckhard Krautzen. When it was over the defender had been selected to both teams.

“It’s funny, it all happened at once. The Whitecaps came to town, and everybody was keen, and they certainly had a lot of talent,” says Wilson. “I was very proud to make [the Whitecaps].

“The four years I played for the Whitecaps I played every minute of every game; in pre-season, regular season and the playoffs.”

Wilson turned down a teaching job offer to play for the Whitecaps. One big problem, though. In the club’s infancy its wages weren’t much enough to put food on the table and pay the rent.

“The money was not what you would call professional standard,” says Wilson.

But one of the members of the Whitecaps coaching staff, Harry Christie, also worked at the Burnaby parks and recreation and got him a job cutting grass, picking up garbage and other chores.

He juggled both jobs for 3-1/2 years, the last one working at Swangard Stadium, but eventually, he felt his extensive contribution to the team deserved an increased contribution to his bank account. After all, he had made the NASL’s first all-star team in 1977 alongside the likes of England’s legendary goalkeeper Gordon Banks, German superstar sweeper Franz Beckenbauer, one of soccer’s all-time charismatic bad boys, winger George Best, and the sport’s best player Pelé. He figured being included alongside soccer aristocracy would give him some leverage.

“It was classic,” says Wilson of his negotiations with the Caps. “It was an unbelievable [all-star] team. So I went in to see John Best, who was the general manager there and said if things are not better I wanted to get traded. Other teams were paying more money.

“I thought it’s time to move on, I still had not taught school and had missed out on a teacher’s salary.”

Wilson’s powerplay didn’t go over well with management, so the Whitecaps traded him to the Chicago Sting.

Wilson went on to play two seasons for Chicago Sting, one for the New York Cosmos — a season in which the Cosmos won the 1980 NASL championship — and four for the Toronto Blizzard. He was also selected to two more first all-star teams and three second teams.

In addition, Wilson made 57 international appearances for Canada and was on the national team that competed in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, where 14 eastern block countries boycotted the event. Canada got to the quarter-finals before losing to Brazil.

To top it all off, Wilson was the captain of the Canadian squad that played in the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, the only time Canada has qualified for the sport’s most prestigious event.

“It was an honour,” says Wilson. “Playing for your country, in particular when you’re playing away from Canada to hear your anthem played it really was an honour. It was something that was hard to explain to be honest.

“I had my 10 or 11 years of being captain for the country. I enjoyed it, I was captain of a lot of NASL teams (Vancouver, Chicago and Toronto) … I was a good communicator on the field, and I think coaches appreciated that fact.

“It was a fantastic time for Canada from basically 1980 to 1986. From 1974 to 1986 we pretty much dominated the U.S. in terms of how we went up against them.”

When his playing career ended, Wilson went on to coach the University of Victoria men’s soccer team where he has just completed his 31st year. He has amassed a 204-101-62 record while winning three Canadian titles and nine Canada West championships.

He was inducted into the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame in 1990, the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame in 2000 and the U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame in 2003. In 2012, the Canadian Soccer Association selected him as a member of the nation’s all-time team in celebration of the organization’s 50-year anniversary at left fullback.

“If I look back over the years, right from six years old there wasn’t a time that I didn’t have seven months of soccer that I wasn’t involved.”

And it all started at Confederation Park and in his North Burnaby backyard.

• The 18th annual Burnaby Sports Hall of Fame banquet will be held at the Metrotown Firefighters club banquet hall, 6515 Bonsor Ave., Burnaby, onThursday, Feb 28 (reception 6 p.m., dinner 7 p.m.) Tickets are available at tickets09@shaw.ca or by phoning Rosemary at 604-436-1672.

(Grant Granger is chair of the Burnaby Sports Hall of Fame)