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In 1975, during Bobby Moffat‘s fifth season with the Dallas Tornado, he played against Pele  in the Brazilian great’s debut game for the New York Cosmos. It wassomething Moffat couldn’t have imagined during his early years in the old NASL after leaving England at age 24 for the Tornado’s 1970 season. Moffat, whose jobs to supplement his Tornado income hadincluded door-to-door encyclopedia and vacuum cleaner sales, is in the midst of helping organize the 50th Anniversary Reunion in Frisco, Texas, Oct. 19-21, for the old NASL, which kicked off in 1968 and folded in 1984 — after sparking the American soccerboom.

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Soccer America Executive Editor Mike Woitalla has written freelance articles about soccer for more than 30 media outlets in nine nations. The winner of eight United Soccer Coaches Writing Contest awards,...