View source for Tony Chursky

{{short description|Canadian soccer player}}
{{Infobox football biography
| name     = Tony Chursky
| image = 
| fullname = 
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1953|6|13}}
| birth_place = [[New Westminster]], [[British Columbia]], Canada
| height = {{height|ft=5|in=10}}
| position = [[goalkeeper (football)|Goalkeeper]]
|  youthyears1 =    
| youthyears2 =  1969–1970
|  youthclubs1 =   Vancouver Croatia 
| youthclubs2 =  Vancouver Spartans 
| youthclubs3 =  [[Simon Fraser University]]
|  years1 =   1976–1978 
| years2 =  1979 
| years3 =  1979 
| years4 =  1980–1982 
| years5 =  1983–1985
|  clubs1 =   [[Seattle Sounders (NASL)|Seattle Sounders]] 
| clubs2 =  [[California Surf]] 
| clubs3 =  [[Chicago Sting]] 
| clubs4 =  [[Toronto Blizzard (NASL)|Toronto Blizzard]] 
| clubs5 =  [[Tacoma Stars (MISL)|Tacoma Stars]] (''indoor'')
| caps1 =    80  
| caps2 =   4  
| caps3 =  18  
| caps4 =  56  
| caps5 =  27  
| goals1 =  0  
| goals2 =  0  
| goals3 =  0  
| goals4 =  0  
| goals5 =  0 
| nationalyears1 =   1973–1981
| nationalteam1 =   [[Canada men's national soccer team|Canada]]
| nationalcaps1 =    19  
| nationalgoals1 =   0 
| pcupdate = 17:47, 24 February 2007 (UTC)
| ntupdate = 7 December 2006
}}
'''Tony Chursky''' (born June 13, 1953, in [[New Westminster]], [[Canada]]) is a former [[Canada men's national soccer team|Canadian national soccer team]] and [[North American Soccer League (1968–1984)|NASL]] [[goalkeeper (football)|goalkeeper]].

== Playing career ==
Chursky grew up in [[Vancouver]], [[British Columbia]] and attended [[Simon Fraser University]] where he graduated with a degree in [[English Literature]]. He is of [[Ukrainians|Ukrainian]] descent.

He joined the [[Seattle Sounders (NASL)|Seattle Sounders]] of the [[North American Soccer League (1968–1984)|North American Soccer League]] (NASL) in 1976 and finished with the league's best record for [[Goalkeeper (association football)|goalkeepers]].  Despite that, he did not gain any official recognition, whether as an All Star or Rookie of the Year.  Chursky played three seasons for the Seattle Sounders before being traded to the [[California Surf]] for [[Al Trost]] in January 1979.  The Surf turned around and traded him to the [[Chicago Sting]] later that season.  In and finally the [[Toronto Blizzard (NASL)|Toronto Blizzard]].  He played in 145 NASL regular season games and 11 play off games including [[Soccer Bowl '77|Soccer Bowl]] 1977 against the [[New York Cosmos (1971–1985)|New York Cosmos]].  Despite his outstanding career, Chursky will be remembered by many for the mistake which led to the Cosmos first goal over the Sounders in Pele's August 1977 final match.  Chursky saved a shot, then put the ball on the ground and began dribbling towards his goal.  Cosmos forward [[Stephen Hunt (footballer born 1956)|Steve Hunt]] rushed at Chursky who, due to being deaf in one ear, did not hear his teammates' cries.  Hunt stole the ball, dribbled it towards the Seattle goal, pursued by Chursky, and scored the game's first goal.  The Sounders tied the score before halftime.  [[Giorgio Chinaglia]] then scored to win the game for the Cosmos in the second half. The Sounders best chance to tie was a low shot from super-sub [[Steve Buttle]], which went wide right.

Chursky played [[Major Soccer League|MISL]] pro indoor soccer for at least two seasons with the [[Tacoma Stars (MISL)|Tacoma Stars]].<sup>[http://soundercentral.com/gallery/OldTacomaStars/86tstar7]</sup>

== International career ==
Chursky made an impressive debut in goal for [[Canada men's national soccer team|Canada]] against [[Poland national football team|Poland]] on 1 August 1973 in [[Toronto]] in a 1–3 defeat while still an unknown [[amateur]]. He would go on to earn 19 [[cap (sports)|caps]] with the national team. Chursky's final cap came on 14 October 1981 against [[Guadeloupe national football team|Guadeloupe]] in [[Pointe-à-Pitre]] in a 2–1 victory. He replaced [[Tino Lettieri]] at half time.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://canadasoccer.com/index.php?pid=702&t=profile&|title=Tony Chursky|website=www.canadasoccer.com|access-date=May 5, 2020}}</ref>

Chursky also was a member of the Canadian squad at the [[Football at the 1975 Pan American Games|1975 Pan American Games]].<ref>[https://www.rsssf.org/tablesp/panam75det.html Pan-American Games 1975 (Mexico) - Match Details]</ref>

== Personal life ==
His son [[Alex Chursky]] is current Assistant Coach at [[Seattle University]] [[Seattle Redhawks|Athletics]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.goseattleu.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=94311&SPID=11523&DB_OEM_ID=18200&ATCLID=1515494&Q_SEASON=2008 |title=Alex Chursky Biography - Seattle University Redhawks Athletics |access-date=2009-02-18 |archive-date=2011-07-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110711114045/http://www.goseattleu.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=94311&SPID=11523&DB_OEM_ID=18200&ATCLID=1515494&Q_SEASON=2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and was member of the  [[Canada U-20 men's national soccer team]].<ref>[http://www.canadasoccer.com/eng/players/profile.asp?playerid=48&sub=8&gender=male]{{dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

== Writing career ==
In 2019 he co-authored Sounders Together; Friends Forever with his friend and Seattle Sounders team mate, Adrian Webster <ref>Chursky, Tony and Adrian Webster, Sounders Together; Friends Forever, 2019</ref>

== References ==

<references/>

== External links ==
*{{Canada Soccer player|id=702}} / [[Canada Soccer Hall of Fame]]
* [http://nasljerseys.com/Players/C/Chursky.Tony.htm NASL/MISL stats]

{{1977 NASL All-Stars}}
{{Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chursky, Tony}}
[[Category:1953 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Soccer people from British Columbia]]
[[Category:California Surf players]]
[[Category:Canadian educators]]
[[Category:Canadian expatriate sportspeople in the United States]]
[[Category:Canadian expatriate men's soccer players]]
[[Category:Canada men's international soccer players]]
[[Category:Canada Soccer Hall of Fame inductees]]
[[Category:Canadian men's soccer players]]
[[Category:Canadian people of Ukrainian descent]]
[[Category:Chicago Sting (NASL) players]]
[[Category:Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States]]
[[Category:Men's association football goalkeepers]]
[[Category:Footballers at the 1975 Pan American Games]]
[[Category:Pan American Games soccer players for Canada]]
[[Category:Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players]]
[[Category:North American Soccer League (1968–1984) indoor players]]
[[Category:North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players]]
[[Category:Soccer players from New Westminster]]
[[Category:Seattle Sounders (1974–1983) players]]
[[Category:Simon Fraser Red Leafs men's soccer players]]
[[Category:Tacoma Stars players]]
[[Category:Toronto Blizzard (1971–1984) players]]
[[Category:Vancouver Spartans players]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian sportsmen]]