Do any U.S. TGBers remember Gibson? I think they eventually became Continental Sports (& were based in Colorado if I'm not mistaken). My high school coach had some of their catalogs lying around, and as Eurosport didn't come around until '85 or so, Gibson was one of the only soccer-specific companies around. They carried Uhlsport, KKS (the interchangable velcro-palm glove), Erima, Derby Star. And had their own gloves as well (a big 'G' on the backhand -- one imitating the Reusch 'International,' tho red palm w/black grooves + another style w/silver PU + baby-blue 'super-softi' palm. Suppose no one has any pics of their catalogs floating 'round...
Continental Sports is still the reusch distributor in the US...Clanger00, contact that coach and get those catalogs!
I don't remember Gibson, but I do remember Continental. I remember the ads they used to run in one of the old magazines from the 70s-80s, Soccer Corner, CornerKick, something like that.
DOSS "soccer sport supply co"...Was another early pioneer in mail order retail in the states. Justin, maybe you could hit them up for old catalogs the next time you are in the neighborhood?
1745 First AvenueNew York City, NY 10128(212) 427-6050
I remember Doss! Didn't even realize they were still around!
Justin, the magazine was Soccer Corner, & I'd kill for any back issues of that mag!
Yep, Soccer Corner. I still remember the big story they did on Shep Messing, and trying to figure out what gloves he was wearing in the pictures.
I've been to the Doss store in NY chew, it's really disappointing froma goalkeeping perspective - mostly just boots. I will ask next time I go tho if they have access to the old catalogs. I recall Doss produced their own line of padded goalkeeper gear. I must have had a pair of long pants from them at some point.
Re: trying to snag those Gibson catalogs -- sorry, Chewie, that was eons ago & my high school (one of 3, actually) transferred schools before I graduated. Italo-Algerian guy, very passionate about the game tho he had a VERY low talent pool to work with.
I also remember SOCCER CORNER -- they usually had goalies as their cover subjects. I wish I could snag the ones with the Van Beveren pull-out poster (when he was wearing Rucanor gloves!) + the ASL-era Scott Manning cover. But I digress...
I thought I was the only one who remembered Soccer Corner Magazine! I used to go every month to the one grocery store that carried it to get my monthly fix. At the time Soccer America was just a weekly black & white newspaper, so seeing a full color soccer mag was heaven. I was gutted, however, after finally saving up enough to get a subscription that I only received one issue before they went belly up!
If anyone has a back issue I would love to know who published it, who the editor was, etc.
I'm originally from Manhattan and I went to Doss for all my gear when I first started playing back on my junior high team back in 1986.
My first pair of gloves were from Doss, they were red tight fitting lycra with pebbled black rubber palms with a black rubber Doss diamond on the backhand and an elastic wrist closure. They were awful but I didn't really know that at the time.
I had another pair that were more like modern gloves with a negative cut and a velcro strap. before I got hip to Reusch gloves.
I also had a couple of pairs of their shorts, a jersey and a pair of pants. Ahh.....I'm starting to feel nostaglic for my earliest days of keeping...but not for the gloves though.
the Doss ones sound better than the alternative at the time for us young-uns -- the poly knit utility gloves sold @ hardware stores with the waffle-pattern plastic that, theorhetically, would seem to provide some grabbing ability to shots hit at you. but didn't...ah, well. nothing like using bare hands to start out with
not quite so old school but old for me...good old Soccer Madness had some origional stuff; used to be the only American carrier of Reusch Wet Extremes, and had their own line of kangaroo leather boots and the best replica gear selection around before it went out of business...not sure how, but it might've been 2-3 years before TSI got bought out.
Soccer Madness was fantastic. They brought in Reusch and Uhlsport gloves that were usually only available in the UK or Europe. They were actually bought by a large catalog store, that phased out its soccer business.
If anyone still has any copies of the Soccer Madness catalog i would love to see it.
The editor of Soccer Corner was Grahame Jones, who went onto the LA Times, I believe. I share your frustration about it going belly-up. They did put a lot of keepers on the cover. I remember Tony Chursky, who played with the Toronto Blizzard, being on one edition.
Soccer Madness was definitely one of the best early US soccer mail order companies, I remember getting my first pair of reusch bundesligas(bright yellow, circa '93) from them. They always had the imported "European" NC Bundesligas rather than the $45 flat palm version reusch always offered here in the US. I remember cleaning up on a lot of sweet gear when they put out there going out of business catalog. Acme Soccer was probably my favorite catalog when it was put out by Eurosport.