Collection

Interview with Brian R. Gant about Clive Charles and soccer in Portland, Oregon

• 2021-02-10 (Creation)

503 megabytes; 1 audio file (WAV, 49 min., 55 sec.)

This interview with Brian R. Gant was conducted by Katelyn Best on February 10, 2021, as research for "The House that Clive Built," an article by Best that was published in the Rose City Review on February 26, 2021. The interview was conducted over the phone and recorded using Audacity audio recording software.

In this interview, Gant discusses playing soccer with the Portland Timbers in the mid-1970s. He describes how the team changed after 1978. He talks about playing on the team with Clive Charles, about the camaraderie of the team, and about the team's involvement in the Portland community. He discusses F.C. Portland, a soccer club that also coached kids in the summers and was begun by Clive Charles in 1985. He speaks at length about Clive Charles's career as a soccer coach at the University of Portland, particularly for the women's team, and describes how Charles's work as a coach led to the increased popularity of soccer in Portland and the formation of the Portland Thorns women's soccer team. He also talks about University of Portland player Tiffeny Milbrett. He shares the reasons why Charles remained in Portland rather than returning to England. He also talks about the soccer career of his niece, Portland Thorns player Christine Sinclair. He closes the interview by reflecting on the legacy of Clive Charles.

Copyright for this interview is held by the Oregon Historical Society. Use is allowed according to the following statement: Creative Commons - BY-NC-SA, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

• English

Gift of Katelyn Best, November 2021 (RL2021-098).

An article based on this interview, "The House that Clive Built," by Katelyn Best, was published in Rose City Review on February 26, 2021, and is available online at https://rosecity.review/clive-charles-portland-woso/

Preferred citation: Interview with Brian R. Gant about Clive Charles and soccer in Portland, Oregon, by Katelyn Best, SR 1398, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.

An incomplete transcript (21 pages) is available for in-person use at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library.

Finding aid based on DACS (Describing Archives: A Content Standard), 2nd Edition.

Sarah Stroman

• Soccer--Oregon--Portland
• Soccer coaches--Oregon--Portland
• Soccer for women--Coaching--Oregon--Portland
• Soccer players--Oregon--Portland
• Soccer teams--Oregon--Portland
• Women soccer players--Oregon--Portland

• Best, Katelyn (Contributor)
• Portland Thorns (Soccer team) (Subject)
• Portland Timbers (Soccer team) (Subject)
• University of Portland (Subject)
• Charles, Clive M. (Clive Michael), 1951-2002 (Subject)
• Milbrett, Tiffeny, 1972- (Subject)
• Sinclair, Christine, 1983- (Subject)

• oral histories (literary works)
• Interviews