NEW YORK -- When you go from the streets of Hungary to political exile to the Charles Manson ranch in California to the North American Soccer League, you probably pick up a few stories along the way.
Julie Veee, the scoring champion of the San Diego Sockers, has made all the stops.
'It was 1969 and I was playing with the Hungarian junior team in a tournament in Italy,' Veee recalls. 'After the game there was a boy outside the stadium and he asked me if I wanted to escape. I said yeah and we walked away. We spent about 40 minutes in a bus station in this little town while they were out looking for me. I thought I'd die waiting.'
Veee, whose team meets the Edmonton Drillers March 1 in the deciding game of the semifinals of the NASL indoor championship, was 18 at the time and the odyssey was just beginning.
With the help of the American Consulate and the International Rescue Committee, Veee emigrated to the United States months later. But with no real prospects and a slow market for Hungarian-speaking soccer players, Veee -- whose name at the time was Gyula Visnyei -- returned to Europe in a year. After scraping by for months a West German businessman landed him a job in the United States and a plane ticket overseas.
The job, as it turned out, was as a caretaker at the Spahn Movie Ranch, better known as the home of Manson cult. By then it was 1971 and Manson was on trial but his following was still at the ranch.
As for Veee, he had no idea what he walked into.
'There were police dogs around and an old stagecoach road,' Veee says. 'They (the followers) would be throwing tires and cans. There were 'no trespassing signs' and axes and pickhandles.
'The ranch was separated from where I was by some trees. Sometimes six or seven of his people would go down to the courthouse and protest. I got to meet most of them.'
Veee, who stayed about a year on the ranch, says the scenario did not seem quite so bizarre at the time.
'At first, I didn't pay much attention to what was going on,' he says. 'I was a foreigner. I was in Italy in 1969 and I came to America. And it was hard enough just trying to get adjusted to the world - especially with this lunatic. Nobody really explained anything. After a while the police came around ... but slowly I got the picture.'
Veee eventually won a spot with the Los Angeles Aztecs in 1975. And with a touch of Hollywood panache, the general manager changed his name from Gyula Vsnyei to Julie Veee. The extra 'e' was added so he would not be confused with pop singer Bobby Vee. All of which, made little sense to Julie Veee.
What made even less sense to Veee was the English language itself. Veee, who now speaks commanding English with a lush Hungarian accent, taught himself the new tongue largely through comic books and 'National Geographic.'
'Comic books are excellent,' he says. 'There are pictures with the words and you can see an attacking voice or a kind voice. But there are some things I could not understand. Forexample, the expression 'jagged teeth.' What is that? I had no clue? But my wife explained it all to me. And slowly, it all makes sense.'
If Veee's life has taken a remarkable turn, this season has been no different.
He led the league in scoring with 51 goals and 38 assists for 140 points. Perhaps more impressive, he never had a game in which he scored less than two goals. Twice he scored six times in a game. Against Vancouver in the quarterfinals, he suffered a pulled hamstring and missed the clinching game.
'I love indoors,' says Veee, 32, who has spent the last four seasons with the Sockers. 'Most players take some time to get adjusted to it. But it is a tremendous game, especially for the Americans.
'I play with a good team and have been able to get the recognition. It has all been very pleasing to me. You are an athlete and this is something once in a lifetime.'
And it is also one more story Julie Veee picked up along the way.
Adv for weekend editions Feb.
