Bert Stanley Terry

Bert Terry, who introduced soccer to generations of Sacramento youngsters, survived Nazi bombing raids over his home in Bristol, England, guarded the Tokyo Imperial Palace, rode a motorcycle across Africa and hunted sunken treasure in clear blue waters off Costa Rica, died in his sleep at his Carmichael home, Monday, October 16, 2017. He was 91. Mr. Terry was a journeyman printer who learned his trade as a teenager in his native England. He worked for newspapers in Bristol and Port Elizabeth, South Africa, before immigrating to the United States in the 1960s. He rode a Greyhound bus across the country, stopped in Sacramento and landed a job at The Bee, where he worked until 1978. World War II interrupted Mr. Terry's printshop apprenticeship. Trying to enlist in the Royal Marines at age 17, he was sent away by a sergeant who said, "Go home to your mother." A year later, Mr. Terry was in the British Army en route to the South Pacific as the war ended. He passed through Hiroshima months after the city was destroyed by the atomic bomb, and served in Tokyo, where he guarded Japanese prisoners and marched sentry duty at the Imperial Palace. Wherever his travels carried him, Mr. Terry was never far from a soccer pitch. A superb athlete who played the game professionally in England, Mr. Terry established an unsurpassed reputation as a soccer coach. In California, he helped create the first organized soccer leagues for young people and was named the first State Youth Coach and inducted into the soccer Hall of Fame in August of 2008. He coached the Rio Americano High School boys team for 18 years and turned the Raiders into a regional powerhouse. Mr. Terry was a player and coach in the Central California Soccer League, and in the 1970s, he assisted with the professional Sacramento Spirits. While approaching his 80th birthday, he coached under-6 and under-8 youth for the Greenhaven Soccer Club instructing the children and grandchildren of several former players. For four decades, Mr. Terry could be found each Friday afternoon at the Fox & Goose pub, enjoying pints of beer with friends. He captivated newcomers with stories about his adventures, which included a motorcycle trek across Africa, where Mr. Terry was briefly slowed by lions. A hidden treasure map brought Mr. Terry to Costa Rica aboard a sailboat. He found no treasure. Mr. Terry drank his final round at the Fox & Goose three days before his death. He is survived by his brother Ken and sister Barbara, both of Bristol, and several nephews and nieces. At Mr. Terry's request, his ashes will be scattered over San Francisco Bay. An appreciation of his life will be held at the Fox & Goose on Friday November 17, 2017 5pm - 9pm. Email dakin@tsg-la.com for more details.