View source for Clive Charles

{{short description|English footballer and manager}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox football biography
| name= Clive Charles 
| fullname = Clive Michael Charles
| image = Clive Charles.jpg
| caption=Charles in 1968
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=y|1951|10|3}}
| birth_place = [[Bow, London]], [[London]]<!-- Do not change to London. Dagenham was in Essex in 1951 -->, England
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|2003|8|26|1951|10|3}}
| death_place = [[Portland, Oregon]], U.S.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.socceramerica.com/article/4762/clive-charles-1951-2003.html|work=Soccer America|title=Clive Charles, 1951-2003|date=27 August 2003|access-date=12 January 2016}}</ref>
| height = {{height|ft=6|in=1}}
| position = [[Defender (association football)|Defender]]
|  years1 =   1970–1973 
| years2 =  1971–1972 
| years3 =  1974–1977 
| years4 =  1978–1981 
| years5 =  1980–1981 
| years6 =  1981–1982 
| years7 =  1982–1983
|  clubs1 =   [[West Ham United F.C.|West Ham United]] 
| clubs2 =  → [[Montreal Olympique]] (loan) 
| clubs3 =  [[Cardiff City F.C.|Cardiff City]] 
| clubs4 =  [[Portland Timbers (1975–1982)|Portland Timbers]] 
| clubs5 =  [[Portland Timbers (1975–1982)|Portland Timbers]] (indoor) 
| clubs6 =  [[Pittsburgh Spirit]] (indoor) 
| clubs7 =  [[Los Angeles Lazers]] (indoor)
| caps1 =    14   
| caps2 =  28   
| caps3 =  77   
| caps4 =  67   
| caps5 =   9   
| caps6 =  26  
| caps7 =  33   
| goals1 =  0  
| goals2 =  0  
| goals3 =  5  
| goals4 =  0  
| goals5 =  7  
| goals6 =  10  
| goals7 =  5 
| totalcaps = 254
| totalgoals = 27
|  manageryears1 =   1982–1985 
| manageryears2 =  1986–2003 
| manageryears3 =  1989–2003 
| manageryears4 =  1993–1995 
| manageryears5 =  1996–2000 
| manageryears6 =  1995–1998
|  managerclubs1 =   [[Reynolds High School (Troutdale, Oregon)|Reynolds High School]] 
| managerclubs2 =  [[University of Portland]] men's team 
| managerclubs3 =  [[University of Portland]] women's team 
| managerclubs4 =  United States U20 (women)
| managerclubs5 =  [[United States men's national under-23 soccer team|United States U23]] 
| managerclubs6 =  [[United States men's national soccer team|United States]] (assistant)
}}
'''Clive Michael Charles''' (3 October 1951 – 26 August 2003) was an English [[association football|football]] player, coach and television announcer. He was one of five [[National Collegiate Athletic Association]] (NCAA) coaches to win more than 400 games.<ref name=bg/>

Charles was born in [[Bow, London|Bow]] and raised in [[Canning Town]]. Charles's father was a seaman from [[Grenada]] and his mother a white woman from [[Silvertown]].<ref>West Ham United website - https://www.whufc.com/news/articles/2021/october/30-october/black-history-month-remembering-pioneering-career-west-ham</ref> Charles began his career with [[West Ham United F.C.|West Ham United]], where his brother [[John Charles (footballer, born 1944)|John Charles]] played. In 1978, he began playing professionally in the United States with the NASL [[Portland Timbers (1975–1982)|Portland Timbers]]. He spent the last years of his playing career [[Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992)|in the Major Indoor Soccer League]], first with the [[Pittsburgh Spirit]]s, then with the [[Los Angeles Lazers]].

Charles spent his later life in the United States, coaching at the high school, collegiate and international levels in the [[Portland, Oregon]] area, primarily at [[Reynolds High School (Troutdale, Oregon)|Reynolds High School]] and the [[University of Portland]]. In 2002, he coached the University of Portland's women's soccer team to the national championship. He also coached the [[United States men's national soccer team|US Men's National Team]] to the semifinals of the [[2000 Summer Olympics]], the farthest the US men had gone since 1904.<ref name=bg/> In 2001, he was diagnosed with [[prostate cancer]], of which he died in 2003.

==Early life==
Clive Michael Charles was born on 3 October 1951 in [[Bow, London|Bow]], East London, England. Raised in nearby [[Canning Town]], he was the youngest of nine children.<ref name=Dunning /> His father was a merchant seaman originally from [[Grenada]] and his mother a white woman from [[Silvertown]].<ref>{{citation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iCitDQAAQBAJ&q=%22John+charles%22+football+grenada&pg=PT344|title=Sir Matt Busby: The Definitive Biography|last=Barclay|first=Patrick|date=7 September 2017|publisher=Random House|place=New York|isbn=978-1473528741}}</ref> He grew up in a working-class neighbourhood playing street football.<ref name=Dunning>[http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/bob.dunning/ccharles.htm Clive Charles: 1951–2003] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121004132349/http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/bob.dunning/ccharles.htm |date=4 October 2012 }}</ref>

==Career==
===Playing career===
When he was 12 years old, Charles began playing with the [[West Ham United F.C.|West Ham United]] youth teams and signed with the club as an apprentice when he turned 15. He would sign with West Ham as a full professional when he turned 17 and joined the first team in 1970 as a [[defender (football)|defender]]. However, West Ham was stocked with talent and Charles had difficulty finding playing time. In 1971 and 1972, he played two seasons on loan from West Ham with the [[Montreal Olympique]] of the now defunct [[North American Soccer League (1968–1984)|North American Soccer League]] (NASL). While with Montreal, he met his future wife Clarena, then a flight attendant flying between Montreal and England.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.socceramerica.com/publications/article/13382/clive-charles-a-blessing-in-disguise.html|title=Clive Charles' blessing in disguise|last=French|first=Scott|work=Soccer America|date=27 November 2000|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020208015659/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/soccer/us/news/2000/11/24/charles_blessing_sa/|archive-date=8 February 2002|access-date=25 August 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> He was also honoured as a second team NASL [[All Star]] in both of his seasons in Montreal.<ref>[http://home.comcast.net/~dulyjs/strikers/nasl/mon1.html Montreal Olympique (1971–1973)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120720233831/http://home.comcast.net/~dulyjs/strikers/nasl/mon1.html |date=20 July 2012 }}</ref> When playing time continued to elude Charles, West Ham loaned him to Second Division side [[Cardiff City F.C.|Cardiff City]] for the last 8 games of the 1974 season. Even though Cardiff City were relegated to the Third Division, Charles chose to sign with the team and became its captain at the age of 23. Cardiff won promotion back to the Second Division in 1976. Charles finished his career with Cardiff City in 1978, playing over 100 games and scoring 5 goals.

In 1978, the NASL [[Portland Timbers (1975–1982)|Portland Timbers]] bought Charles' contract from Cardiff City.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1310&dat=19800306&id=awtWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=6-EDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3922,1545478 Defender Charles back with Timbers]</ref> He remained with the Timbers through the 1981 outdoor season. However, injuries began to hamper Charles and in 1981, he played only 4 games with the Timbers and did not return to the team the next year. In addition to playing for the Timbers' outdoor team, Charles had played 9 games for the Timbers during the 1980–1981 NASL indoor season. His jersey, number 3, was retired by the Timbers after his death in 2003.<ref>[http://www.fcmediallc.com/index.php/field-notes/club-connections/first-kick-2012-3-clive-charles/ First Kick 2012 – #3 Clive Charles]</ref> He was honoured by the Timbers during a game against the [[Seattle Sounders FC]] on 24 June 2012 by a large [[tifo]] held up by the [[Timbers Army]] prior to the start of the game.

At the end of the 1981 NASL season, Charles moved to the indoor [[Pittsburgh Spirit]] and then the [[Los Angeles Lazers]], both of the [[Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992)|Major Indoor Soccer League]]. He later admitted that "I hated it. But it paid the bills."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dorrk.com/content/default.asp?ed=20041203133441  |title=Man of the Match : How Clive Charles went from West Ham to the Timbers to the University of Portland to the World Cup. |date=1 January 1998 |first=Gregory P. |last=Dorr |work=Portland Living Magazine |publisher=Dorrk.com |access-date=8 December 2010 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061028100118/http://www.dorrk.com/content/default.asp?ed=20041203133441 |archive-date = 28 October 2006}} (via Wayback Machine)</ref> In 1982, he was playing with the {{sic|hide=y|Lazers}} when Jimmy Conway, a former Timbers teammate, called Charles and told him of an opening at the [[Reynolds High School (Troutdale, Oregon)|Reynolds High School]] boys' soccer team in [[Troutdale, Oregon]]. He immediately retired from playing and moved his family back to Oregon.

===Coaching career===
Charles began his coaching as a young player in England, but he had no idea then the success coaching would bring to him. Charles remained with Reynolds High School for three years before the [[University of Portland]] hired Charles as its men's soccer coach in 1986. In 1989, the university expanded his duties to include both the men's and women's teams. He would continue coaching the UP teams until his death. In his last season (2002), the UP women's team won the [[National Collegiate Athletic Association]] (NCAA) championship.<ref name=Portland>{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030829105838/http://www.portlandpilots.com/sports/wsoccer/bio.asp?PLAYER_ID=301|archive-date=29 August 2003|title=Clive Charles, Head Coach|publisher=University of Portland|work=PortlandPilots.com|url=http://www.portlandpilots.com/sports/wsoccer/bio.asp?PLAYER_ID=301|access-date=24 August 2018}}</ref> During his tenure as the men's coach, Charles had a hand in beginning the career of numerous outstanding future players, including American [[United States men's national soccer team|men's internationals]] [[Kasey Keller]], [[Steve Cherundolo]], and [[Conor Casey]], American [[United States women's national soccer team|women's internationals]] [[Tiffeny Milbrett]] and [[Shannon MacMillan]], and [[Canada women's national soccer team|Canadian international]] [[Christine Sinclair]].<ref name="Oregon encyclopedia">{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/charles_clive_1951_2003_/|title=Clive Charles (1951-2003)|encyclopedia=The Oregon Encyclopedia|publisher=Oregon Historical Society|access-date=August 24, 2018|date=March 17, 2018}}</ref> Other players include [[Yari Allnutt]], [[Scott Benedetti]], [[Kelly Gray]], [[Nate Jaqua]] and [[Wade Webber]].

In 1986, Charles founded F.C. Portland, a local youth soccer club. The club fields numerous youth teams in local, state and national competitions.

Charles also spent several years as coach of the [[United States men's national under-23 soccer team|US U23 men's national team]], culminating with the [[Football at the 2000 Summer Olympics|2000 Summer Olympics]]. During this period, Charles was battling [[prostate cancer]], but continued to coach the US and achieved a fourth-place finish in the games, their best finish at the Olympics in almost a century.<ref name="Oregonian">{{cite web|url=http://infoweb.newsbank.com/resources/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:NewsBank:CPDB&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=0FD38205977BED5D&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated5&req_dat=0D0CB579A3BDA420&p_openurl=NewsBank|title=Clive Charles, coach on and off soccer field, dies|work=The Oregonian|page=A1|last=Muldoon|first=Katy|date=27 August 2003}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/29/sports/clive-charles-soccer-coach-51.html|title=Clive Charles -- Soccer Coach, 51|date=29 August 2003|agency=Associated Press|archive-url=https://archive.today/20190103052134/https://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/29/sports/clive-charles-soccer-coach-51.html|archive-date=3 January 2019}}</ref> He retired from coaching the U23 team after the Olympics with a record of 23–11–13 (.628). He also coached the team to a bronze medal at the [[Football at the 1999 Pan American Games – Men's tournament|1999 Pan American Games]] and third place at the [[1997 Summer Universiade|1997 World University Games]]. He also served as an assistant coach of the [[United States men's national soccer team|United States men's (senior) national soccer team]] in the [[1998 FIFA World Cup|1998 World Cup]].

In 1994, he worked as an announcer for [[ESPN]] during the [[1994 FIFA World Cup]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football--world-cup-usa-94-milutinovic-speaks-volumes-for-cult-of-the-coach-the-taciturn-manager-of-the-united-states-team-says-little-but-means-much-to-those-pundits-who-put-strategy-before-skill-1411605.html |title=Football / World Cup USA '94: Milutinovic speaks volumes for cult of the coach: The taciturn manager of the United States team says little but means much to those pundits who put strategy before skill  |first=Ken |last=Jones |date=4 July 1994 |work=The Independent |access-date=8 December 2010}}</ref>

==Death==
Charles was first diagnosed with [[prostate cancer]] in 2000,<ref name=bg/> and underwent weekly [[chemotherapy]] treatments to treat the disease.<ref name=bg/> He ultimately died of the cancer on 26 August 2003 in Portland.<ref name="LAT0803">{{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-aug-27-sp-charles27-story.html |title=Clive Charles, 51; Coach of U.S. Olympic and College Soccer Teams |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=27 August 2003 |access-date=8 December 2010 |first=Jim |last=Barrero}}</ref><ref name=Oregonian /> He was inducted into the [[Oregon Sports Hall of Fame]] that same year.<ref name="LAT0803" /><ref name=bg>{{cite news|work=[[The Boston Globe]]|title=Clive Charles, 51; considered one of the top US soccer coaches|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/26799961/the_boston_globe/|date=27 August 2003|page=55|via=Newspapers.com}} {{open access}}</ref> He is interred at [[Mount Calvary Cemetery (Portland, Oregon)|Mount Calvary Cemetery]] in Portland.

==See also==
*[[Merlo Field]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20061116195506/http://www.portlandpilots.com/sports/msoccer/history.asp University of Portland Men's Team History]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20061116172249/http://www.portlandpilots.com/sports/wsoccer/history.asp University of Portland Women's Team History]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070405071033/http://www.fcportland.org/index.html F.C. Portland]
*[https://archive.today/20130119155240/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/soccer/us/news/2000/11/24/charles_blessing_sa/ Sports Illustrated Profile of Clive Charles]
*[http://198081.timbersfanpage.com/ 1980–1981 NASL indoor stats]
*[http://nasljerseys.com/Players/C/Charles.Clive.htm NASL/MISL stats]
*[https://www.timbers.com/news/howler-x-timbers-clive-charles-man-who-made-portland-soccer-grow-tall-oral-histo Clive Charles: The man who made Portland soccer grow tall- An oral history]

{{1975–76 Football League Third Division PFA Team of the Year}}
{{1971 NASL All-Stars}}
{{1972 NASL All-Stars}}
{{Portland Timbers}}
{{Portland Pilots women's soccer coach navbox}}
{{United States squad 2000 Summer Olympics}}
{{NSCAA Coach of the Year}}
{{West Coast Conference Men's Soccer Coach of the Year navbox}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Charles, Clive}}
[[Category:1951 births]]
[[Category:2003 deaths]]
[[Category:English men's footballers]]
[[Category:English expatriate men's footballers]]
[[Category:West Ham United F.C. players]]
[[Category:Cardiff City F.C. players]]
[[Category:English football managers]]
[[Category:English expatriate sportspeople in Canada]]
[[Category:Expatriate men's soccer players in Canada]]
[[Category:English expatriate sportspeople in the United States]]
[[Category:Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States]]
[[Category:North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players]]
[[Category:Montreal Olympique players]]
[[Category:Portland Timbers (1975–1982) players]]
[[Category:Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players]]
[[Category:Pittsburgh Spirit players]]
[[Category:Los Angeles Lazers players]]
[[Category:American soccer coaches]]
[[Category:Portland Pilots men's soccer coaches]]
[[Category:Portland Pilots women's soccer coaches]]
[[Category:Deaths from prostate cancer in the United States]]
[[Category:Deaths from cancer in Oregon]]
[[Category:English Football League players]]
[[Category:Black British sportsmen]]
[[Category:Footballers from the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham]]
[[Category:People from Dagenham]]
[[Category:Men's association football defenders]]
[[Category:English people of Grenadian descent]]
[[Category:Sportspeople of Grenadian descent]]
[[Category:African-American history in Portland, Oregon]]
[[Category:African-American history of Oregon]]
[[Category:Olympic coaches for the United States]]
[[Category:Soccer players from Portland, Oregon]]
[[Category:20th-century English sportsmen]]