Rowdies legend Clyde Best returns to Tampa Bay to be honored by team
TAMPA BAY, Fla. (WFLA) — Tampa Bay Rowdies legend Clyde Best was a member of the Rowdies’ inaugural team in 1975 and scored a goal in the club’s 2-0 championship win that season.
“If you’re in sport, you’re in it for a reason to be a champion,” said Best. “I was just glad and proud to be one with the rowdies that day.”
“We knew when we played Portland we could beat them and we went out there that day and that’s what we had done,” said Best.
The Rowdies will honor Best at a halftime ceremony on Saturday, May 25 against the Las Vegas Lights FC at Al Lang Stadium. Best will sign autographs for fans before the match.
Best, a native of Bermuda, was a trailblazer of the sport as one of the first non-white players in England during the 1960s and 70s.
He also played in 221 matches for nearly a decade with West Ham United FC before being recruited to come to Tampa Bay to help grow the sport in America.
“Coming from England. It was Mark Lindsey, and myself. I think we were the first two to sign with the rowdies and we were on the same plane,” said Best.
Best isn’t the only former Rowdie player to join the fun. His teammates from the 1975 championship season, Doug Wark and Farrukh Quraishi, as well as Rowdies legend Perry Van der Beck, will be in attendance.
“He’s that type of person, once you meet him you don’t forget,” said Perry Van der Beck.
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