Amateurs: George and Jamie at the World Cup
George Pakos was a water meter reader. Jamie Lowery drives a bus. In 1986, they played for Canada at the World Cup.
The first thing I hear when Geoff Pakos answers the phone is a faint whistle in the distance. The happy clamor of a small but vocal crowd reaches through the receiver. With the sort of smile you can hear through the phone and across the country, Geoff tells me he is watching his daughter’s soccer game.
Geoff is the son of one George Pakos - a name that has every right to be legendary, but outside of certain circles, one that has largely been forgotten. When Canada’s Men’s National Team qualified for their first World Cup back in 1986, George came on for the final 21 minutes in their last game against the Soviet Union. Two days later, he was back at his full-time job as a water meter reader in Victoria.
George was recruited for the national team at the age of 30 when coach Bob Bearpark saw him playing amateur ball in Vancouver. Against all odds, he became the hero of Canada’s unlikely qualifying push - he scored the game-winning goal that put them through to Mexico ‘86 over Honduras.
“Everyone says what happened to me is a dream come true,” Pakos quipped in an interview at the time, “But it really wasn't that at all. I never dreamed about it. It was the last thing I ever thought would happen."
The George Pakos on the other end of the phone has lost some of the gusto emanating from his interviews, even in print. Gone are the days of threatening to punch head coach Tony Waiters in the face and storming back to Victoria when his promised minutes weren’t fulfilled in friendly matches.
George found a way to channel that vigour under the lights of Estadio Chavez in Irapuato, Mexico. In a 20 minute cameo, Pakos made a name for himself by bowling over Soviet Ballon d’Or winner Igor Belanov - a rugby-like challenge he cheerfully described as “The old Polack right-arm smash” and “One for his countrymen.”
“After the war, my [Polish] parents emigrated to Canada,” Pakos said. “When I was playing, my Dad’s family had to rent a colour T.V. hoping to watch me.”
It’s a theme that rears its head over and over again in his tumultuous life - a steady fortitude against a legion of improbabilities. In the late 90’s, the headlines featuring Pakos took the most unexpected turn - his step daughter, Kelly Ellard, was convicted of second-degree murder. Much of the spotlight lingered on the former World Cup player trapped in the courtroom.
On the soccer field, those 20 minutes seemed more a curse than a blessing. When George returned to his local over-30’s league, he wasn’t exactly greeted with open arms - instead he found a big target on his back, taking more than a few Belanov tumbles of his own. Things only got worse when he started refereeing:
“It was too much like a job. I couldn’t take it anymore” Pakos said. “You see it on T.V. to this day. The referee makes a call and people run into his face yelling and screaming.”
The sentiment certainly isn’t unique to George. Eight years younger than Pakos, Port Alberni native Jamie Lowery was the national team’s other resident amateur, representing the University of Victoria.
A long time bus driver for the City of Victoria, Jamie never had that same competitive edge; that same gusto that ran through George’s blood.
“Tony Waiters picked me because I did what he asked me to do.” Lowery said. “If the coach doesn't like you, he takes you off, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Soccer is ultimately just a game to Jamie, and he struggles mightily to put that contrast into words. Lowery, who didn’t have that magical moment against Honduras or the tanklike figure to send legends plunging to the turf, got it even worse.
“I was playing in summer league when I got back,” he chuckled. “Some guy wacks me and says ‘Get up you big World Cup superstar.’”
There must be something in those salty waters that you can’t measure on a residential meter. The whistle I hear through George’s son Geoff’s receiver isn’t just a one-off; both his daughters took to soccer at a young age. 17-year old Ashlyn Pakos even spent time in the MLS’ Vancouver Whitecaps’ residency program.
George’s time at the World Cup is little more than a piece of lore for the Pakos grandchildren, who are intent on rising to the top on their own merits. But there is a certain hesitance in Geoff’s voice when he discusses the matter
On one hand, soccer courses through the veins of the entire Pakos family. One one hand, Geoff has a million cute little stories about the trademark Pakos elbow passing from generation to generation. But every story is attached to another that isn’t so fun to tell.
“When [George] came back,” Geoff said, “They always banged him up real bad. They always went for him. They always hurt him, and I remember him always coming back home with ice packs and shit.”
Such is the double edged sword of fame - even the jealous kind that punishes you for not being famous enough. When it comes to George, there is one particular anecdote that stands out.
After Canada ended their ’86 World Cup 0-3, reporter Neil Davidson opted to speak to Pakos first. He’d been at the centre of every difficulty; every complaint George had offered. And so, Davidson asked, was it worth it? Was it worth forfeiting two weeks of pay for 21 minutes of play? Did any of it mean anything? At the time, George hesitates. And then he catches himself.
And when I ask him today, it’s the same thing. It’s the same loud pause. And then a 70-year George Pakos, finally retired from his municipal job tells me that,
“It all worked out. I got to play a little bit and you know… I get to say I actually went to a World Cup.”