GreenPitch Magazine - METROPOLITAN SOCCER LIFE






	Philadelphia's atom bomb By Andrew Spence Few American players in the North American Soccer League made as much of an impact as Pennsylvania native Bob Rigby. Among the most talented soccer goalkeepers born in the United States, Rigby played twelve seasons in the NASL, a professional league that existed in two forms, outdoor and indoor, for sixteen years from 1968 to 1984. Rigby also played collegiate soccer at East Stroudsburg State University and was named a first team All-American in 1972. In 1973, Philadelphia Atoms coach Al Miller, an alumnus of East Stroudsburg University, took Rigby as the first pick in the 1973 NASL college draft. Miller was building his team for the Atoms, which were an expansion franchise that year. Rigby set a league record of 0.62 goals allowed as a rookie that stood until the end of the league. That year, Philadelphia became the first U.S. professional team in any sport to win a championship their first year in existence.		Rigby became a local and league hero and found himself on the cover of Sports Illustrated. He continued to provide positive exposure to the young NASL when he took fourth place in ABC's 1974 Superstars, a televised athletic competition pitting athletes from various sports. February 1974 saw Rigby involved in another significant first. The NASL was toying with the idea of indoor soccer and the Atoms hosted the Red Army of Moscow team in Philadelphia's Spectrum. This was one of the first indoor games to use the configuration familiar to future indoor leagues, an artificial turf covered ice rink with small goals set into the far walls. While the Red Army team won, 6-3, its coach had high praise for Rigby who stopped 33 shots. In 1973 Rigby earned his first cap for the USA in a 1-0 loss to Haiti. He played a total of six games, his last coming in a loss to Mexico on August 24, 1975. After a series of injuries and stints with other teams, Riby signed with MISL outfit Philadelphia Fever in 1979. When the NASL folded in 1984, Rigby became an indoor soccer star before recently settling down as a youth coach with Eastern Pennsylvania's Star Soccer Academy. *-2008-01-03*