Sidebar

28
Thu, Mar

Typography

Richard Chinapoo can now add yet another honor -- this one has a golden hue -- to the many he packed away during his illustrious soccer playing career.

The 51-year-old Chinapoo, a four-time All-American at Long Island University (1978-81) in Brooklyn, N.Y., was one of 11 former collegiate greats named Thursday to NCAA Division I's golden anniversary team. A popular vote was used to select the team.

All 11 former players, along with Myerstown native and former Indiana University coach Jerry Yeagley, will be recognized at the NCAA Men's College Cup Dec. 12-14 in Frisco, Texas.

Chinapoo scored 55 goals during his sparkling four-year run at LIU, leading the Blackbirds to a 51-13-8 record and three conference crowns.

The school's only four-time All-American, the former Trinidad & Tobago national team captain was inducted into LIU's athletic Hall of Fame in 2001.

Before arriving in Harrisburg for a lengthy indoor stretch -- Chinapoo was a five-time National Professional Soccer League all-star during his playing days with the now-defunct Heat -- Chinapoo played several seasons for the legendary New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League.

He also spent nine years with the Baltimore Blast and Dallas Sidekicks of the original Major Indoor Soccer League before relocating to Pennsylvania's capital city and the NPSL.

Now living in Lower Paxton Twp., Chinapoo is the coaching director for the Capital Area Soccer Association.

Others selected to the NCAA's golden anniversary side include Jeff Agoos, John Harkes and Claudio Reyna of Virginia; Indiana's Armando Betancourt and Angelo DiBernardo; UCLA's Paul Caliguiri and Brad Friedel; and Glenn "Mooch" Myernick of Hartwick.

SUNY-Oneonta's Farrukh Qurashi and Al Trost of Saint Louis were the other two former college soccer greats selected by the fans during a two-week voting window.

Yeagley, who built Indiana from scratch into one of college soccer's perennial powers, won 544 games and six NCAA championships during his three-plus decades at the helm.