View source for George Pakos

{{Short description|Canadian soccer player (born 1952)}}
{{BLP sources|date=August 2011}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=February 2019}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2019}}
{{Infobox football biography
| name           = George Pakos
| image          = 
| full_name      = 
| birth_date     = {{birth date and age|1952|7|14}}
| birth_place    = [[Victoria, British Columbia]], Canada
| height         = 1.78 m<ref>{{Cite web |title=Profile |url=https://www.canadasoccer.com/profile/ |access-date=2022-08-28 |website=Canada Soccer |language=en-CA}}</ref>
| position       = [[Second striker]]
| youthyears1    = Gorge Soccer Association
| youthclubs1    = 
| years1         = 
| years2         = 
| years3         = 
| years4         = 1989
| clubs1         = Victoria West United
| clubs2         = London Boxing Club of Victoria
| clubs3         = Victoria Riptide
| clubs4         = [[Victoria Vistas]]
| caps1          = 
| caps2          =  
| caps3          = 
| caps4          = 18 
| goals1         = 
| goals2         = 
| goals3         = 
| goals4         = 1
| totalcaps      = 
| totalgoals     =
| nationalyears1 = 
| nationalteam1  = [[Canada men's national soccer team|Canada]]
| nationalcaps1  = 23 
| nationalgoals1 = 5 
| medaltemplates = {{MedalCountry|{{fb|CAN}}}}
{{MedalSport|Men's [[Association football]]}}
{{MedalCompetition|[[CONCACAF Championship]]}}
{{Medal|W|[[1985 CONCACAF Championship|1985 North America]]|}}
}}

'''George "Teddy" Pakos''' (born August 14, 1952) is a Canadian former soccer player who played as a [[second striker]]. His goals were crucial in  the [[Canada men's national soccer team|Canada national team]] qualifying for the [[1986 FIFA World Cup]].<ref>{{cite news|author= |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/the-unlikely-tale-of-a-world-cup-hero/article4189853/ |title=The unlikely tale of a World Cup hero |newspaper=The Globe and Mail |date= June 20, 2010|access-date=2015-03-16}}</ref>

==Club career==
Pakos won Rookie of the Year honours in the final [[Pacific Coast Soccer League (1908-73)|Pacific Coast League]] season, helping Victoria West United finish second overall in the 1972-73 league standings. He later played for Victoria's London Boxing Club (which later became the VAA) and won Canada Soccer's [[The Challenge Trophy]] in 1975. He began work at the same time as a water-meter technician for the city of [[Victoria, British Columbia|Victoria]], a job he continued for over 25 years.  The third son of [[Polish people|Polish]] immigrants, George's father [[Zenon Pakos|Zenon]] played professionally in Poland before being displaced by the [[World War II|war]]. Pakos did play briefly professionally in the [[Western Soccer Alliance]] in 1985 with the [[Victoria Riptides]] and in the [[Canadian Soccer League]] with the [[Victoria Vistas]] in 1989.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nasljerseys.com/ASL/Players/P/Pakos.George.htm
|title=George Pakos|publisher=NASL Jerseys|access-date=8 May 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vVcaiqoaufxngges_8tVFa_YWyJQ3APl/view|title = CSL 1991 Media Guide w 92 season info and all time records_HiQ.PDF}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.canadasoccer.com/profile/?id=2450&teamId=2068|title=Profile}}</ref>

==International career==
Spotted by coach [[Bob Bearpark]] while playing for the [[Vancouver Island Selects]] amateur team, Pakos made his debut with the Olympic team at age 30. He also played for Bearpark in two Olympic qualifying matches in 1983 against Bermuda, scoring once in each game. He was however left off the team that reached the quarterfinals of the [[Football at the 1984 Summer Olympics|Olympics]].

The midfielder Pakos scored five times in 23 'A' internationals, all of which he earned from age 31 on. In [[1986 FIFA World Cup qualification]] as a 33-year-old who had been cut from the team after the first round of qualifying, Pakos was recalled and scored the lone goal in a vital away win at [[Honduras national football team|Honduras]]. He also scored the first goal in a 2–1 home victory against Honduras that clinched Canada's berth in their only finals appearance. Pakos came on for the last 21 minutes of Canada's third match in the finals versus the [[Soviet Union national football team|Soviet Union]] in his final full international appearance.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://canadasoccer.com/index.php?pid=2450&t=profile&|title=George Pakos|website=www.canadasoccer.com|access-date=May 8, 2020}}</ref>

==Post-retirement==
Pakos was head coach of V.A.A.'s Division 2 men's team of the [[Vancouver Island Soccer League]] in 2005–06.

In 2001, Pakos was inducted into the Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame.<ref name="George Pakos">{{cite web|url=http://www.gvshof.ca/inductees-2/all-inductees/19-soccer/83-george-pakos-2001.html|title=George Pakos|website=GVSHOF|date=2001|access-date=September 15, 2018}}</ref>

==Career statistics==
:''Scores and results list Canada's goal tally first.''
{| class="wikitable"
! # !! Date !! Venue !! Opponent !! Score !! Result !! Competition
|-
| 1 || 11 December 1983|| [[Estadio General Francisco Morazán]] ([[San Pedro Sula]], Honduras) || {{fb|HON|1949}} || || 1–3 || [[Friendly match]]
|-
| 2 || 4 April 1985|| [[Providence Park|Civic Stadium]] ([[Portland, Oregon|Portland]], Oregon) || {{fb|USA}} ||  || 1–1 || [[Friendly match]]
|-
| 3 || 25 August 1985|| [[Estadio Tiburcio Carías Andino]] ([[Tegucigalpa]], Honduras) || {{fb|HON|1949}} || 1–0 || 1–0 || [[1986 FIFA World Cup qualification]]
|-
| 4 || 14 September 1985|| [[King George V Park]] ([[St. John's, Newfoundland|St. John's]], Newfoundland) || {{fb|HON|1949}} || 1–0 || 2–1 || [[1986 FIFA World Cup qualification]]
|-
| 5 || 2 February 1986|| [[Miami Orange Bowl|Orange Bowl]] ([[Miami]], Florida) || {{fb|URU}} || 1–1 || 1–3 || Miami Cup
|}

==Honours==
===Player===
'''Victoria London Boxing Club'''
*[[The Challenge Trophy|Canadian Amateur Championship (Challenge Trophy)]] winner (1975)

'''Canada'''
*[[CONCACAF Championship]]: [[1985 CONCACAF Championship|1985]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rsssf.org/tablesc/conca85det.html|title=Torneo Premundial 1985 (IX Campeonato de Naciones (NORCECA) CONCACAF)|access-date=April 20, 2024}}</ref>

===Individual===
*[[Pacific Coast Soccer League (1908-73)|Pacific Coast League]] Rookie of the Year, 1972–73
*Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame, 2001
*BC Soccer Award of Merit, 2004
*VISL Team of the Half Century, 2015

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Canada Soccer|2450}}

{{Canada squad 1985 CONCACAF Championship}}
{{Canada Squad 1986 World Cup}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pakos, George}}
[[Category:1952 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Canadian people of Polish descent]]
[[Category:Canadian men's soccer players]]
[[Category:Soccer players from Victoria, British Columbia]]
[[Category:Men's association football forwards]]
[[Category:Canada men's international soccer players]]
[[Category:CONCACAF Championship–winning players]]
[[Category:1986 FIFA World Cup players]]
[[Category:Canadian Soccer League (1987–1992) players]]
[[Category:Western Soccer Alliance players]]
[[Category:Victoria Riptides players]]
[[Category:Victoria Vistas players]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian sportsmen]]