Thoughts from EV- Ralph Lundy Episodes
Dearest Listener:
(and reader in this case)
You may have heard our 2-part episode with Ralph Lundy and Ralph Polson recently. If so, Thank You so
much for listening, and please tell your soccer friends—well….tell ANY friends—to join us for the # Old
Goalies podcasts! Available anywhere podcasts are sold!
Anyway, I digress. In the episode, Coach Lundy mentioned several players of the day, and I wanted to
put together a little blurb to give you some insight as to who these guys were. A disclaimer: I am
writing this from the perspective of a GK playing with or against these guys.
Darrell Chapman: Played for us at Warren Wilson. Coach Lundy coached D at Brevard Junior
College and mentioned that D had an uncanny ability to score goals. So correct! Darrell truly
understood the game tactically and strategically. (A rarity back then). He would show up at the
right time and right place and score. An intelligent man and a great soccer mind.
Roland Paiva: Played for us at Warren Wilson. Superb player, superb passer of the ball and
lethal on set pieces. Roland enjoyed setting teammates up for finishing and his passing was
always excellent. Great soccer man. Roland and his bride—Diana Young—are BOTH in the
Warren Wilson Athletic Hall of Fame! Pretty cool.
Mike Ortiz-Velez: What a player! Mike had everything. Speed, skill, both feet ability, high
soccer IQ, could score, could pass, you name it. A very, very, good player for Erskine. Went on
to play professionally for the Ft Lauderdale Strikers after having played in the Senior Bowl with
one Roland Paiva. Great player. Always a challenge to play against and he always made it look
so easy!
Ali Regiman: Big, strong Iranian forward who was always a scoring threat. I enjoyed playing
against Ali, because he was physical and fair about it. He’d challenge for a 50/50 ball with me
and there was no trash talk or complaining to the ref. Just got on with it. Went on to be a big
part of getting NC State Men’s Soccer started and as Ralph said is a nuclear engineer. Big time.
Ricky Wright: Wonderful player in midfield for Erskine. Tremendous defender, who could play
with both feel and could shoot like you read about! It was nothing for Rick to hit a shot from 30
yards out and it was always a screamer and very rarely off target. Went on to play for Chicago
Sting and has coached in SC for decades. Currently asst coach with Greenville in the USL.
Wonderful player.
Ralph Polson: As I’ve already said in his write-up for episode part 2—Ralph was a tremendous
collegiate GK. Very solid, and always the consummate gentleman—back then and now. Went
on to coach collegiately for well over 30 years. Past president of NSCAA (now United Soccer
Coaches) and currently is a referee in the Southern region. I am proud to know him.
Mike Rubesch: Every team need “plumbers”—you know those guys in MF who just bust their
ass and do all the work. Mike was that guy. A whirling dervish of a player and always, always
solid. We had a similar player at WWC named Joe Pereira. Both men went on to coach
collegiately for years. Mike at Emory University, Joe at Old Dominion. Great guy, Mike Rubesch
who passed away a few years ago. God bless him.
Bert Passos: Bert played at Erskine and was an excellent forward. Brazilian native, he was big,
strong, fast, and smooth. In the match that Ralph referenced when we defeated Erskine in the
playoffs (Darrell Chapman got one of our 2 goals), Bert scored late in the match to increase our
pucker factor, making the score 2-1. As I’ve told Ralph many times, I knew exactly where Bert
was what he as going to do, and even with all of that knowledge and what I thought was a
“jump’ on the ball—he still roofed it over me with a wonderful shot.
Just wanted to give everyone a bit of context to the “Ralphs” episode, part one and part deux!
Be sure to check back to this website occasionally for more context and insights into our guests at
And as I’ve said many times before….3 Old Goalies: convenient time-wasting without the yellow card!
Join us, won’t you?
