By Budd Bailey, Buffalo Sports Page Columnist
Iubo Petrovic – Signed by the Stallions in 1979
When the Buffalo Braves left for San Diego in the summer of 1978, there was an opening in the winter sports calendar. A year later, the Buffalo Stallions tried to fill it. They were an expansion team in the Major Indoor Soccer League, and they needed players.
The Stallions’ first acquisition was Jim May, a Rochester-area native who was playing goal for Cleveland at the time. But more talent was needed, of course, and it didn’t really matter where it came from.
The Stallions turned to Yugoslavia for help, and found some. They brought over Stan Karasi, a good playmaker, and Slobodan Jankovic, a natural scorer who looked as if he didn’t really care too much about defense. However, Iubo Petrovic also made the trip over the Atlantic, and he turned out to be the best of the bunch.
Petrovic was one of the top scorers in the league that first season with 46 goals and 21 assists for 67 points. He improved on that by 10 points a year later, teaming with Charlie Cordas for a dynamic scoring combination. The two came close to helping the Stallions win a playoff series in 1980-81, falling just short. Along the way, he became the sixth player in MISL history to reach 100 career goals.
And that was it for Iubo. He fell off the map of Buffalo sports by not returning to the Stallions in 1981. There’s no sign of him anywhere on the Internet. But we still remember his contributions.
Care to see Iubo score a goal? We are at your service.
(Follow Budd on Twitter @WDX2BB)
Leave a Reply