Joseph Gryzik

Joe Gryzik of Chicago, Illinois, was born in Katowice, Poland on October 10, 1927. He began his long climb to the top in 1951 when he played for the Chicago All-Stars against the touring Swedish Club A.I.K. Stockholm. Then he went on to playing against other international teams such as Eintract Frankfurt, Liverpool, Plymouth Argyle, Nuremburg, Guadalajara, Borussia Monchengladbach, Dundee and Slovan Bratislava. In 1963, Joe became a member of the United States Team and played in all four games at the Pan-American Games in Brazil. He was also selected for the U.S. Olympic team in 1964, and for the U.S. National Team for the World Cup 1966 qualifying campaign.

He immigrated to the United States in 1949 and immediately joined the Chicago Eagles S.A.C (former Polish American Athletic Club) where he remained his entire playing career, including an appearance in the 1955 U.S. National Amateur Cup Final.

With only a year under his sleeve, Joe took the Eagles to win the Peel Cup (Illinois State Championship) in 1950, 1954, 1955, 1957, and 1963. Joe broke the scoring record in the Peel Cup by scoring eight goals in only one game. He was well known for being a high scorer in the indoor and outdoor divisions of Chicago’s National Soccer League. He also played for many Chicago and NSL all-star teams against top clubs from Europe and Latin America.

Retired in 1965 after suffering a torn ligament, Joe received an award of commendation in 1972 from the National Soccer League of Chicago in recognition of his career and sportsmanship. He was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 1973.

Edward Murphy

Edward Murphy, originally from Scotland, was an outstanding forward with the U.S. National Team from 1955 to 1969. During that period, a few international games were played where Ed participated in 16 full internationals including a game against England in Los Angeles scoring the only goal in an 8-1 loss.

Murphy was also a member of the bronze medal Pan American Games’ team of 1959 where he played ten games in total. He scored a hat trick against Brazil in Chicago in a game the U.S. won 5-3. During the entire competition he scored eight goals in six games and in overall Pan Am play scored 11 goals in ten games.

Ed played in World Cup qualifying in 1957, 1962, 1966 and 1968 as well as in two Olympic qualifying games.  To many followers of the game, Murphy was regarded as the most outstanding "weekend warrior" of his day, playing his club career over several decades in Chicago for the Maroons and the Norwegian-Americans, and also appearing for the Mustangs of the North American Soccer League in 1968. Following his career, Murphy retired to Florida, where he died in 2005. Murphy is a member of the US National Soccer Hall of Fame, Class of 1998.

Blaz Pesorda

Blaz Pesorda of Wellington, Ohio, has over 50 years of experience as an official, assessor, assignor and instructor, as well as an administrator, organizer, and proponent of the game.

Upon his arrival in the United States in 1969, Mr. Pesorda started his affiliation with the local soccer community. He founded the Ohio Soccer Referees Association and served as its President for ten years. He has officiated games at the professional level for the German, Polish and Israeli National Teams. He has also officiated teams in Croatia, Serbia and the USA Olympic Team.

Throughout his association with the game, Blaz has continued to instructing new candidates at referee clinics, and assessing new experienced officials during the season. In 2003, he achieved the rank as a National Assessor for the National Inter-Collegiate Soccer Officials Association (NISOA).

The Croatia native has promoted the game of adult soccer in the capacity of commissioner, assignor and treasurer of the North Coast Soccer League of Cleveland, Ohio. He has been an assignor for over 30 years in the adult leagues in and around the Cleveland area. Furthermore, Blaz has held instructional clinics for new assignors for many years. In 2008, over 90 assignors were registered in Ohio North. He was the first one in the area to promote women’s soccer. He was also the first assignor in Cleveland to assign a female official to Division I games.

Mr. Pesorda was Vice President for the Ohio Soccer Association-North for ten years. He was elected to serve as the association’s Registrar in 2004 and has been in that capacity since. He also serves on the USASA Credentials Committee. Blaz is the recipient of the USASA Referee of the Year 2006.