Ralph Black could take a punch. And he could deliver one.
The mullet-wearing Capuchino High grad did both on March 15, 1992 when his Tacoma Stars met the Wichita Wings of the Major Indoor Soccer League in the Tacoma Dome.
Go to youtube.com and google "Tacoma Stars Kung Fu Fighting" and you'll see former San Bruno resident Black trading blows with Wichita's Brad Smith. The fracas came after a hard tackle by Black on defense followed by a shot to the back by Smith. At one point it seems like the incident is over and then Black sprints to a knot of people surrounding Smith, leaps and delivers still another blow.
It's pretty outstanding, if you're into that sort of thing.
"There's this stupid video on youtube from 25 years ago," said Black, now a youth coach in Redmond, Wash. "People still talk about it. It's out there and my kids see it. Parents see it. Somehow it's stuck with me."
No surprise there. The Tacoma dust-up was big news at the time. Black was fined $750 and Smith $650 and each was suspended for one game. But Wichita turned the brawl into a small bonanza, proclaiming one of its following games "Ralph Black Appreciation Night" and admitting everyone named Ralph for free. The Wings pocketed an extra $20,000 in ticket sales.
Now with the World Cup heating up, it's an ideal time to re-visit Black, who was born in Glasgow, Scotland but moved to San Bruno when he was 1.
Black's late father, Ralph Sr., played six years of indoor pro ball in his native Scotland and then emigrated to the Bay Area where he became a house painter and a soccer coach. Ralph Sr. assisted the iconic Stephen Negoesco at the University of San Francisco back when the Dons were a national power.
The younger Ralph grew up just a short kick from bucolic San Bruno Park, where he first excelled in baseball before focusing on soccer after getting an eyeful of those great USF teams.
"I was a kit boy at practice," Black said. "I went to practices all the time. My dad had a lot of contacts and I could have played at Stanford or Santa Clara, but I didn't do well in school. My parents were Scottish and we didn't speak English at home. I struggled."
But Black could play. He made at least one All-America team at Capuchino and by age 15 was identified as a rising star, competing on the U.S. National Youth Team.
That was nearly 35 years ago -- around the time Mt. St. Helens erupted, one of the more memorable natural disasters of the 1980s.
"I was playing with the U.S. Youth Team," Black said. "There was ash falling like snow in Portland. It was kind of cool."
So was Black's ascent into pro soccer. After not attending college, he was drafted by the Denver Avalanche of the Major Indoor Soccer League. This began an 18-year pro career that -- just in the MISL alone -- included stops in Denver, Tacoma and San Diego. By the time the league folded in 1992, Black ranked sixth in league history in games played (442).
"I was low to the ground -- 5-foot-8, 160 pounds -- and I was a pest," Black said. "I hustled and had good ability and I was also left-footed, which is different because not a lot of teams have left-footers."
By the time Black left Tacoma after five seasons and joined the San Diego Sockers, he ranked third in Stars' history in assists (92), blocks (335) and -- of course -- penalty minutes (82).
Black never met a collision he didn't like, as mentioned in a 1989 Los Angeles Times story.
"I'll protect anybody on our team," he told The Times. "I can take it, and I can give it."
Offered Ralph Sr. in the same article: "I've seen some of his tackles, and I just shut my eyes sometimes."
OK, so the former Cap star was no angel, but it's a tough sport. Besides, he's mellowed now and is a molder of youth, coaching the Crossfire Premier Soccer Club of Redmond, Wash. One of the teams Crossfire plays is the Seattle Sounders academy youth squad, led by Tyler Black, 16, one of three children of Black and his wife Tammi.
"He's playing at the highest level of American youth soccer," Black said. "He's on a high-end team and the players are fast and technically sound."
Crossfire isn't bad, either. The team traveled to the San Jose area last year for a match with De Anza and had a player do so well he received a full ride to Santa Clara University. Stories like that are Black's version of a hat trick these days.
After making as much as $70,000 per season during the heyday of his indoor career in the 1980s, Black, 50, is doing just fine now. He runs a vending machine company, has the gig with Crossfire and is contemplating a return to the place where it all started -- the San Francisco Peninsula.
"Club teams are doing well back there in places like Burlingame," he said. "I could see myself going back. My mom still lives there in San Bruno on Cabrillo Way, right by San Bruno Park. I just about lived in that park as a kid."
