Next Meeting: October 12th, 2010
Time: 9:30 am
Location: H.R. MacMillian Planetarium and Space Centre, Lower Level
Speaker: Bob Lenarduzzi
Topic: The Outlook for the Vancouver Whitecaps
Bob Lenarduzzi has been involved with the Whitecaps Football Club for over three decades, excelling as a player, coach, general manager, director of soccer operations, and now president.
Playing with his hometown Whitecaps (1974-1984), Bob was the North American Soccer League’s all-time leader in games played with 312. He was the only Canadian to win the North American Player of Year, and in 1979, he was a key member of the Whitecaps championship-winning team. He has represented Canada 47 times as a player, helping them qualify for the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico. For his efforts, Lenarduzzi was named among CONCACAF’s top 30 players of the past century.
As a player/coach, he won four straight Ca-nadian Soccer League championships and was twice named CSL Coach of the Year. He went on to coach Can-ada’s men’s national team from 1992 to 1997. Lenarduzzi served as the general manager and director of soccer operations of the Vancouver 86ers and Whitecaps FC from 1988 to 1993, and 1998 to 2007. In 2000, he received the USL First Division Executive of the Year award, while he was also a mem-ber of the FIFA U-20 World Cup Canada 2007 Steering Committee. Lenarduzzi has been inducted into the North American Soccer Hall of Fame, the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame, the British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame, and the United Soccer Leagues Hall of Fame. In 2005, he re-ceived the Order of British Columbia – the highest form of recognition that the province can extend to its citizens – for his contribution to the sport of soccer.