The Source

Albert Kaiser 1905 -1984

In 1922 a young man from a small village in south-west Germany arrived in America. He left everything behind in the Fatherland except for his love of a game called fußball. This is not the tale of an early football hero. His playing career in the semi-pro American leagues, if he had one at all, was short-lived. He was the president of the Los Angeles Kickers Soccer Club in the 1950s, but other than that his name is not one most football fans would recognize.

In 1966 at the age of 61 he saw his first World Cup in England. He was hooked after that. He would follow the game around the globe, every four years a different country - Mexico, Germany, Argentina, Spain. Each time he came back with a World Cup pennant or badge for me. While he certainly loved the game played at every level from AYSO to the top European leagues, the World Cup was always his thing, those were the matches he was most passionate about. I was a baby when he went to Mexico in 1970, and still too young to know of his trip to Germany in 1974. Argentina in 1978 was the first time I really understood where he was going when he disappeared for four weeks beginning in June. By then I was a real soccer-head; it was my life just like it was his. I couldn’t wait to hear all about his trip. In 1982 he was going to Spain and I wanted in. I got as far as Germany with him, then he left me behind with his family. It is too crazy for a kid he said. He was 77! An old man was telling me football fans were crazy. I think the World Cup was something he just had to do alone. It was a special event every four years when he could get lost in the game he loved so much. He didn’t want any distractions, anything to make him lose focus. Sadly, I never saw a World Cup with him. He died before the 1986 tournament. And I wouldn’t see my first World Cup until it came to the US in 1994.

If I inherited nothing else from my grandfather I will always be grateful for the gift of fußball he gave to me when I was a boy. For me this was his greatest footballing accomplishment, introducing me to “the beautiful game”.