FOR FINAL REVISED VERSION OF CHAPTER SEE: ELZEY, C. & WIGGINS, D. (EDS.) (2015) DC SPORTS: THE NATIONS CAPITAL AT PLAY (UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS PRESS) Chapter 9 Whips, Darts and Dips: The Rollercoaster Ride of Men’s Professional Soccer in Washington DC Charles Parrish and John Nauright INTRODUCTION On a hot July summer afternoon a record crowd of American soccer fans filled the stadium to catch a glimpse of “The King”. Promoted as the highest paid athlete in the world and designated a Brazilian national asset not available for export, Pelé delivered roses to a few lucky ladies and trotted onto the field to cheers from an enthusiastic crowd. Although he failed to score, Pelé set up all three of his team’s goals and demonstrated his flamboyant ball control skills en route to a 3-1 victory. A second hand account of the match published in the New York Times 1 erroneously credited two goals to Pelé. The confusion is understandable given the match didn’t take place in New York and the scorer of the two goals in question was a Brazilian teammate with a similar name, Pepe. At the time Pelé was the focus of fans and journalists and its conceivable staff writers simply misread the preliminary wire reports. The story of the New York Cosmos is well known thanks to Gavin Newsham’s book and Miramax film Once in a Lifetime. Though certainly engaging and enlightening these works provide an in depth yet narrow view of soccer in the United States during the 1970s. Soccer enthusiasts may be surprised to learn that the description of the match above actually took place at D.C. (RFK) Stadium in 1968 between the District’s own top flight professional soccer team,