Dan Hudson never played soccer until he was a sophomore in college at Castleton. He came from tiny Plainfield High School in Vermont.
It was the same for Lee Ingram, who had never played soccer at Bristol High School, the forerunner of Mount Abraham Union High School.
Bruce Wright attended Woodstock before that high school started its soccer program.
Wright, Hudson and Ingram were typical of the players on coach Dick Terry’s 1963 national champion Castleton soccer team in that they were playing for him in the first soccer game they had ever seen.
Plainfield High School and Bristol High School are no more and, sadly, so are many players from the 1963 Castleton soccer team that were co-national NAIA champions.
That is why the book that will soon be launched about that team and the starting of the Castleton program’s beginning in 1958 is so important. It will be a critical piece of making sure that the amazing story is preserved.
The story of small town boys, many who had never touched a soccer ball before coming to Castleton, winning a national championship should not be lost to time.
Nine years before Castleton won its national soccer crown, tiny Milan High School in Indiana pulled off the shocker by winning the Indiana state high school basketball championship in an era where there were no divisions and teeny Milan had to win the title against big-city schools.
That story was preserved for all time in the classic movie Hoosiers.
Eight years after Castleton’s Cinderella march, small-town Macon High School made it to the state baseball final in Illinois, an unthinkable journey since Illinois still had no divisions in 1971.
That story was also preserved, not by a movie, but by the book “One Shot at Forever” by Chris Ballard.
Art DeLorenzo, a 1964 Castleton graduate and key member of the 1963 team, credits Steve Rampone with the idea of the book project.
“Steve’s father was a professor at the school and Steve was always around the soccer field. Sometimes, he would jump in during a scrimmage if we needed another player,” DeLorenzo said.
Rampone grew up idolizing these players and saw the importance of preserving this incredible story.
The making of the book has featured conference calls and Zoom sessions with numerous people including DeLorenzo, Rampone and current Vermont State University Castleton men’s soccer coach John O’Connor.
Exhaustive research and the tapping of many people’s memories have been part of the process.
The road to the title was improbable as the Spartans started the season at 1-4-1 after the first six games.
Terry was taken aback. Success had not eluded him in this way. His 1961 Spartans had gone 11-0 and won the New England State College Conference championship. His 1962 squad went 10-4-1 and made the first of the consecutive appearances in the NAIA final four.
That 1-4-1 start was frustrating but then everything turned. The Spartans never lost again and finished 9-4-1.
The Spartans reported for practice on Friday, Nov. 22 in a somber mood. President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated that day.
It was only five days later, they left the Castleon campus for the final four in Frostburg, Maryland, a town tucked in the Appalachian Mountain range.
The Maryland weather was more like Vermont weather for the semifinal game against East Stroudsburg State.
Bucky Knisley and Steve Hazen were two of the players on the Castleton team who did play high school soccer. They played for Chester High School, the forerunner of Green Mountain Union High School and the Chester combo struck for a goal, Hazen had the score and Knisley the assist.
Mark Mooney knocked in Davis Hartman’s corner kick to give Castleton the 2-1 victory over East Stroudsburg in rain, sleet, snow and bitter cold.
Once, the Spartans had the lead, East Stroudsburg was blanked by the superb goalie play of Proctor’s Lee Orvis who was later named the MVP of the tournament.
Tournament director Ken Babcock called Orvis’ performance “one of the best I’ve seen in 25 years of coaching.”
The championship game never got played. The weather worsened and it was deemed the conditions were unplayable. Earlham College of Indiana and Castleton were declared co-national champions.
Terry has said that the Spartans wanted to play the game.
Orvis went on to coach his own Cinderella team. His 1970 Proctor High School boys soccer team fashioned a Cinderella march ranking right up there with the Milan High basketball team, the Macon High School baseball team and the Castleton national champions.
Orvis’ Proctor squad defeated Canaan in the small-school state championship game. CVU won the large-school state title contest.
There was a New England High School Soccer Tournament that year for the first time. It was decided that CVU and Proctor would play off for the right to represent Vermont in Rhode Island.
Orvis told his players in practice that CVU coach Dave Bremner had said that Vermont should simply send the large-school champion to Rhode Island.
Whether that was true or if it was simply a psychological ploy by Orvis is unknown.
Proctor defeated CVU 2-0 and then lost to Chicopee, Massachusetts 1-0 on a late goal in the New England event. Chicopee then beat East Providence handily to claim the New England crown.
It was a story that should be sustained for future generations.
Thankfully, Castleton’s improbable and spectacular journey to a national soccer championship will be due to the hard work of many people.
There is also talk of constructing a display in a corner of VTSU Castleton’s Hall of Fame Room where a 1963 team photo already graces the wall.
Players on coach Dick Terry’s 1963 squad included Alan Ball, Gene Barrows, DeLorenzo, Jay Edwards, Squeak Gregory, Hartman, Hazen, Hudson, Ingram, Mike Kingsbury, Knisley, David Lucia, Phil Marks, Peter Messina, Mark Mooney, Orvis, Bob Perry, Bob Rathgeber, Bob Scoskie Bob Worthen and Wright.
Their story will soon be captured on the pages of a new book yet to be titled.
“Against All Odds.” “The Cinderella of the Mountains.” “Vermont’s Own Hoosiers.”
By any name, it is certain to be unforgettable. That’s the idea.
