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The Early Days

In 1965, five men and women, headed by Joe Belluzzo (known as the Father of Santa Rosa Soccer) organized so they could provide the necessary soccer skills and game opportunities for school age girls and boys.  This program became known as the Sonoma County Youth Soccer League for 10 to 12-year-olds.  As time went by, it was difficult for the parents to transport the children to various games that were played in the diverse Sonoma County localities.  In 1969 eight parents, with the financial assistance of the Santa Rosa Optimist Club, founded the Santa Rosa Youth Soccer League.  There were approximately 200 boys and 18 girls that signed up for this outstanding new athletic program.  There were 16 dedicated adults who served as coaches and referees that first year.

The interest was heightened with the help of the local school districts (Santa Rosa and the nine feeder elementary school districts) and the City Recreation and Parks Department.   By the 1972/1973 season, this program had grown to 1,500 girls and boys forming playing leagues in several different age groups.  In 1978, due to the rapid growth and interest in the sport,  the Santa Rosa Youth Soccer League Board of Directors reorganized operations into five clubs. The idea behind this was to break down the city into geographical regions, thus making it easier for people to participate. Through this "club concept" they then comprised a total of 184 teams.

The soccer program has continued to grow to where today approximately 6,000 boys and girls between the ages of 4 and 18 are playing in Santa Rosa.  There are now almost 500 teams with a playing season from August to November, with some of the select teams playing almost the year around.  In addition to the number of soccer players, there are hundreds of adult volunteers now assisting with the total program.  Santa Rosa Youth Soccer League is now the second largest soccer league in all of northern California.

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Joe Belluzzo

Article appeared in the Soccer California Magazine - August 2004 Written by Lisa Ormond

Every California soccer community probably has one of these - that one person who started the soccer ball rolling in their area.  In Santa Rosa, that person is 84 year old Joe Belluzzo.  Belluzzo calls himself a "soccer nut" but people who know him call this soccer enthusiast and pioneer the "father of soccer."  Belluzzo's story may sound similar to other soccer pioneers across this state and even in this country but it's important to remember these soccer stories and pass them onto others because local soccer continues to be the foundation for this growing sport.

For more than 50 years, Belluzzo's passion and love for soccer has created playing opportunities for adults and youth in this community.  Belluzzo has received many honors for his years of devotion to soccer and for his lifelong community contributions.  Some of his honors include his 1980 California Youth Soccer Association Hall of Fame induction and his Santa Rosa Citizen of the Year Award in 1975.  But his most cherished accomplishment is a very simple one that just makes him feel good inside.

"I get so much joy from just seeing soccer being played where I live,"  Belluzzo smiled.  "Every time I go down the street and see a little kid kicking a soccer ball, that makes me feel wonderful."  For Belluzzo, life has always revolved around his favorite sport and passion:  soccer.

Belluzzo's love for the game of soccer began in the streets of Verano, Italy, where he lived until age 20.

"As a kid growing up in Verano, you played soccer.  It was organized by ourselves; you tossed a coin in the air, chose teams and played,"  Belluzzo recalled.  "Soccer is a religion over there (in Italy).  It's fun."

Belluzzo's "fun" was usurped by reality when he was drafted into the Italian army during World War II.  He was captured in Northern Africa by the United States during the war and was sent to a POW camp in Arizona.  After the war ended, he took a machinist job in San Francisco and that's where he met his wife, Doris.  They've been married almost 57 years.  In San Francisco, Belluzzo spent every Sunday watching live soccer games played in the San Francisco Men's Soccer League.  Soccer on Sundays was a tradition and a part of his Italian culture.

Belluzzo eventually moved to Santa Rosa in 1956 and quickly realized he couldn't find any soccer to watch.  That bothered him.  There was nothing here (Santa Rosa).  I was used to Europe where every Sunday you'd see a soccer game.  But here you couldn't find any soccer, so I had to create something,"  he said.  And that's exactly what he did.

"A bunch of us foreigners started kicking the ball around at Monroe school every Tuesday.  They "other soccer players" heard the news and they came and played too.  Word spread and eventually a team was formed,"  Belluzzo reminisced.

These "drop in" players, the Santa Rosa Kickers, were the area's first men's adult soccer team.  Belluzzo started the team in 1957 and was the coach.  The Kickers played against seven other teams in the San Francisco Men's Soccer League.  The team stayed together for about four years until the players "got old and got families and didn't want to travel anymore," Belluzzo said.  Despite its break up, Belluzzo's Kickers helped set the field for more organized soccer in Santa Rosa.

As the years passed, Belluzzo lived his adult life in Santa Rosa, becoming a father of three children and working fulltime as a machinist.  Soccer remained in his heart and mind just like a "religion."  He worshipped it, followed it and shared it with others.

"His love is soccer and always has been - no other sports," Doris said.  "Just soccer, soccer, soccer - he has a one-track mind."

Eventually the time came when Belluzzo wanted to share his passion for soccer with his son Rick.  In 1965, he looked for a youth soccer league for his son to play in and found none.  Again, Belluzzo chose to be a creator instead of a sideline spectator.

That year, Belluzzo and an Englishman formed two organized soccer teams, an Under 12 and an Under 10 boys team.  The two men signed up 33 boys and, on Sundays, they informally played other boys teams in neighboring cities.  One of Belluzzo's favorite soccer memories involved a playing field.

"After we formed these two boys' teams, I remember we went to the Santa Rosa Park and Recreation Department and asked for a practice field.  They gave us a field with an oak tree right in the middle.  I looked at that field and though, "This is a soccer field?!""  Belluzzo laughed.

Four years later, organized youth soccer in Santa Rosa took another step forward in its development.  In 1969, Belluzzo and a small group of parents formed the Santa Rosa Youth Soccer League (SRYSL).  According to Belluzzo, about 200 boys and 18 girls signed up to player soccer that year.  The cost to join was just $3.  By 1972, the SRYSL numbers exploded and about 1,500 boys and girls joined and played soccer that year.  Soccer's increased popularity in this community and in the United States hasn't surprised Belluzzo. "It's a fun game.  It's a GREAT game.  It's attractive to kids."

A lifetime SRYSL board member, Belluzzo still attends the monthly meetings.  Current SRYSL President Cindy Toran drives him to those meetings.  "He's definitely considered the father of soccer in this area,"  she said.  "Joe was the one who organized both adult and youth soccer in Santa Rosa.  It was hard in the beginning.  Of course, other people have helped along the way but all of 'this' is because of his efforts," she said.

"This" refers to the almost 500 teams and 6,000 boys and girls between the age of 4 and 18 playing soccer in the Santa Rosa area today.  District 5 alone, which includes the city of Santa Rosa, has an estimated 30,000 children playing soccer.  SRYSL is the second largest league in the California Youth Soccer Association.

It's clear Belluzzo started a soccer movement in his hometown that continues to gain momentum.  Andrew Ziemer, a Santa Rosa United soccer coach and co-owner of Ziemer Brothers Soccer, was coached by Belluzzo when he was a child.  "Joe Belluzzo is without a doubt one of the most influential persons in Sonoma County soccer,"  Ziemer said.  "He's volunteered hundreds of thousands of hours for the game.  He has a passion for the game second to none, even at his age."

At 84, Belluzzo remains active.  Although he no longer forms soccer teams or starts up leagues, he does kick out ceremonial balls at games and cuts ribbons at ground breakings of local fields.  He's become somewhat of a soccer dignitary in the Santa Rosa area.

Belluzzo spends most of his energy operating his renowned shoe bank he started 25 years ago.  Hundreds of children visit his garage every year to trade in outgrown cleats for a larger pair.  Belluzzo started the shoe bank with one bag of cleats and now has an entire wall full of outdoor and indoor soccer shoes.

"It's a job I can do well and I'm going to do it as long as I can," Belluzzo said.  "People that came to my shoe bank as kids are now bringing their grandkids here.  I've met a lot of nice people; a lot of people have come to this garage - all types."  "He talks for hours out there (in the garage)," added Doris.

Soccer has kept Belluzzo young at heart and happy in spirit.  And like most people, Belluzzo has a dream too.

"I hope that someday soccer will be as popular as football is in the United States.  It's here to stay (soccer).  It makes me fell good to have been a part of that," Belluzzo said.

Not only has Belluzzo been a part of it, he helped create it.  His legacy will live on as long as adults and children play soccer and nothing could make Belluzzo happier.

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Peter Jebens

Article from the CYSA Hall of Fame Program - February, 2004

Hall of Fame Inductee, Peter Jebens, did more than take the reins of the California Youth Soccer Association when he took over as chairman in 1975.  He built the saddle and turned the horse into a thoroughbred?  Under his leadership, the association grew from 31,000 players to more than 125,000 at the time he took over as CYSA's Executive Director.  He is the founding father of what we now know as the US Youth Soccer Olympic Development Program.  His foresight, vision and creative thinking have been  the hallmarks of Peter's leadership.

Under his guiding hand, CYSA was the first state association to craft a detailed and formal constitution.  Many of the standards that exist in youth soccer today are in part thanks to Peter's involvement.  While he led the way, the rest of the nation was following, according to fellow Hall-of-Fame member, Doug fields.  He, like many of our volunteers, got into the administration of youth soccer almost by accident.  Where a need existed, Peter filled the gap.  He began as a volunteer at the league level in Santa Rosa and was soon serving as the Commissioner of District 5.  With his wife Sandy as his partner, the Jebens' served in nearly every position that came their way.  Region 4 of US Youth Soccer will honor that dedication by indicting both Peter and Sandy into their Hall of Fame in 2004.

He has touched the lives of many and he was instrumental in directing CYSA to its current position of being the largest state association in United State Youth Soccer.  But it is Peter's generosity, his endless contributions to the youth of his community and his commitment to the association that will be the legacy he leaves to CYSA.  Peter will forever be a part of the lives of all who have been privileged to know him.

Obituary from the SR Press Democrat, May 24th, 2004

Peter Jebens passed away on May 12th, 2004 at the age of 65.

Peter Jebens was born in 1938 in Munich, Germany and worked for the Volkswagen company for several years before immigrating to the United States in 1965.

He enlisted in the Army and moved to Sonoma County shortly after his discharge in 1969.  In the ensuing years, he owned or was a partner in several small businesses.

Jebens had participated in competitive canoeing in Germany, where soccer is used as a conditioning sport.  But soccer was still a novelty in the United States in the early 1970s.

"He started coaching soccer in Santa Rosa after a friend, who coached a team, begged him to set up a second team so they'd have someone to play against" said Sandy, his wife of 20 years.

"In 1970, Jebens helped found and became president of the Santa Rosa Youth Soccer League, which consisted at that time of the six founding members and 96 players," said daughter-in-law Jennifer Hodgin.

In the late 1970s, Jebens felt the fledgling California Youth Soccer Association wasn't doing all it could.  "He wrote a letter complaining, and the next thing he knew, he was appointed district commissioner," said Sandy Jebens.  Jebens went on to become chairman, then executive director of the association.

Jebens was also instrumental in the creation of the Olympic Development Program for young soccer players and helped launch soccer associations in other states.  Jebens retired from soccer in the mid-1980's.

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