It was a passion sparked in the Summer of Love and, more than 50 years later, an American family are still infatuated with Aberdeen FC.
Three generations of the Blaha clan travelled last week to the Granite City to take in a couple of games at Pittodrie and, while the club’s results have been disappointing this season, nothing was stopping the visitors from journeying round the region where Tom Blaha worked as a teacher in the 1970s and 80s.
That, of course, was the halcyon period for the Dons; a giddy whirl of triumphs and trophies, which culminated in Alex Ferguson’s side surging to European Cup Winners’ Cup glory with victory over Real Madrid in 1983.
For several years, they were the dominant force in their homeland and opponents feared by everybody else whenever cup draws were being made.
Yet, as Tom told me, his attraction to Aberdeen was piqued more than a decade before he was working at the American School in Cults.
It originally started when the then 20-year-old university student became a supporter of a group of football players with the curious moniker of the Washington Whips who were involved alongside several other sides, including Hibs and Dundee United, in a Stateside competition to heighten interest in the game in 1967.
This was no small-scale initiative. On the contrary, the Aberdeen manager, Eddie Turnbull, was invited to the White House by President Lyndon B Johnston for a pre-tournament photo-shoot, while a ritual blessing of the match ball was carried out by officials in the Oval Office. (And the Prez was given a season pass to all the Washington Whips matches).
Thousands of curious locals soon turned up for the contests with Tom among their number and he was smitten with the panache and personalities in the line-up to the extent that he has carried a torch for the Dons ever since.
He said: “I soon discovered they were actually Aberdeen FC and they were participating in a summer league with other European clubs who represented different US cities. Well, I was hooked straight away.
“Eleven years later, having graduated from university and while pursuing a career as a geography teacher, I landed a job in Aberdeen and I promptly sold everything and, together with my wife Anne (nee Campbell), we headed over.
“Before we had even found a flat in the city, we attended our first game at Pittodrie – which was Bobby Clark’s testimonial in September 1978. And that was fitting because the legendary keeper was the only one left from the team whom I had supported as the Washington Whips a decade earlier.”
This was in a period when the north-east was changing rapidly, following the discovery of oil in the North Sea which proved the catalyst for a commercial and housing expansion, accompanied by the often incongruous association between bucolic Aberdeen Angus and brash Texas Sam.
Tom and Anne watched as the region was transformed, but nothing was allowed to get in the way of their regular doses of Dons magic.
They attended all home fixtures and many away games with the Northern Lights Supporters Club and after their first child, Noel Campbell Blaha, was born at Foresterhill Hospital in August 1977, the baby was taken to his first match in April 1980.
Heart and soul
Tom speaks about these days with unalloyed affection and a sense of near-reverence. And he has no doubt about the occasion which had the biggest impact on him and which is permanently ingrained in his heart and soul.
He said: “I was lucky enough to get time off my job and travel to Gothenburg for the European final in May 1983. This was the highlight, not only of my time in Aberdeen, but in my 70-plus years as a sports fan of multiple sports and teams on both sides of the Atlantic.
“John Hewitt’s winning goal in extra time over a club that is one of Europe’s giants, managed by a man [Alfredo Di Stefano], who had been a giant of European football in his heyday, will be etched in my mind forever.
“At one of the post-game celebrations on that rainy night in Sweden, I stood on a table and led the singing of The Northern Lights and Flower of Scotland and, upon descending from my perch, I was the recipient of several beers bought by fellow Dons supporters who were astonished to learn I was a ‘Yank’.
“Upon my return to Dyce the following day, the immigration officers at the airport were equally surprised that a non-UK national would’ve been on that charter flight and they apologised for making me wait until they could fetch the correct book to check me in under. But I didn’t mind at all.”
He sparkled as he reminisced with precision and clarity about the Dons jousting with giants at various stages of their adventures under Ferguson, the redoubtable individual who later inspired similar heroics at Manchester United and who was regarded as a saint by Aberdeen aficionados.
There was the night when Tom was in the crowd for the Dons’ success against Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals of the European Cup Winners’ Cup: “The come-from-behind win was my most memorable match at Pittodrie. The atmosphere was electric, and the feeling as a fan was indescribable: a combination of relief and jubilation and ‘Wow, we’ve made it to the semis!’
And then there was another evening of less fanfare which has stuck with him: “It was a home leg League Cup tie against Celtic in October 1979. Noel was only two months old and Anne and I left him with a babysitter at our home in Chattan Place. Steve Archibald [who later replaced Diego Maradona at Barcelona] scored a hat-trick for the Dons and we totally dominated it.”
Naming the baby
Football followers will understand this obsession even if it may be a mystery to non-believers. Once the game’s in the blood, it’s there for life and Tom and Anne’s obsession has been passed down through generations which helps to explain their recent sojourn back to the Granite City.
However, there was one slightly surreal instance where the couple were unable to attend a match for rather pressing reasons.
Tom says: “Oh yes, that was on April 27 in 1985. Anne was taken to hospital to give birth to our second child that Saturday morning, so I had given her season ticket book to one of our colleagues from the American School who had become a Dons fan.
“I kept mine in my pocket, though, on the chance I might get to the match.
“Around 1pm, I asked the doctor’s opinion on whether the baby would come within the next four hours – giving me time to get to the match, where we needed just one point against Celtic to win the Scottish League title.
“The doctor said: ‘You should be fine’, so I immediately called a taxi to pick me up at the hospital and take me to Pittodrie. However, while I was waiting in the forecourt for my cab to turn up, a nurse came running down to tell me that ‘your wife needs you’ and I had to cancel my plans.
“When I went upstairs, Anne was in delivery mode and the staff had provided a radio for us to listen to the match. We talked about naming the new bairn after whoever scored the first goal for Aberdeen.
“Anne suggested: ‘Willie Miller Blaha’. But I replied: ‘Don’t be silly, Willie’s a defender, he’s not going to score a goal’. But what did I know, Willie DID provide the Dons’ only goal in a 1-1 draw which gave us the league title.
“Oh, and Heather Victoria Blaha was spared being named after the famous moustachioed defender!”
All good things must come to an end, however, and when their jobs at the American School became redundant, the couple and their kids returned to the US in 1985.
None of that has dampened their ardour in the intervening period, nor prevented Noel and Heather from spreading the gospel with the same evangelical zeal as their parents.
Storm of success
Hence their return to Pittodrie, even as Storm Arwen was doing its worst and wreaking devastation across the north of Scotland.
Tom said: “Noel and Heather both played in their school and college soccer teams, they grew up, they got married and now have kids of their own.
“So the third generation of Blahas are learning what it means to support the Dons. Noel’s sons Campbell, nine, Andrew, six, and Heather’s daughter, Audra, six, all have the latest kit and the eldest is particularly proud of his Dons shirt with ‘Campbell’ emblazoned on the back above the number 24.
“They watch the games with me on Red TV and Noel and I are both founding members of AberDNA [which aims to encourage youngsters into the sport].
“History and heritage are very important to all of us and that is why we decided to make a pilgrimage to Aberdeen as a family to see a couple of games at Pittodrie before the club moves to a new stadium in the years ahead.
“Aberdeen FC has offered us so many happy memories and we loved our time in the city. Wherever we are, we always keep in touch.”
Their visit coincided with an upturn in Aberdeen’s fortunes and wins over Livingston and St Mirren.
Noel said afterwards: “My loons have never seen the Dons lose. Two matches, six points and six goals scored.
“They were already Dons mad and now they are even more so. What a week!”
Nothing’s going to dent their faith.
For the Blahas, football is far more than just a kick-about in the park.
It’s at the very centre of their lives.
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