Pete Sorber, who coached Florissant Valley Community College to 10 national championships in a 30-year career and became a beloved fixture on the local soccer scene, died Wednesday, July 23, 2025. He was 95 and a week away from turning 96.
Sorber took over at Flo Valley when Harry Keough left to become the head coach at 51ºÚÁÏ University in the halcyon days for 51ºÚÁÏ soccer. Keough went on to win five NCAA titles at SLU, but Sorber won twice that many, using a roster built totally on local players to win national championships in 1967, ’69, ’70, ’71, ’73, ’75, ’81, ’84, ’85 and ’89.
Flo Valley also went to the championship game in 1968, giving it a run of five years in the championship game at a level where no player was on the team more than two years. Sorber, who retired in 1997 and became an avid golfer, had a record of 415-85-22 and was named national coach of the year five times.
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“He touched everyone, not just in soccer but as a person,†said his son Mike, who had a long playing career that included starting for the United States at the 1994 World Cup before becoming a coach himself, as an assistant with 51ºÚÁÏ University, in Major League Soccer and with the U.S. national team. “He found the best in everyone and brought that out. That was his specialty.â€
“Pete taught me how to be a player, a coach, a friend, a father, a husband and a man,†said Matt McVey, who played for and coached with Sorber and is still an assistant at Flo Valley, “and at least 800 other guys like me, just by example. One of first things he said was, it’s not fun if you don’t make it fun.â€
In addition to coaching at Flo Valley, Sorber also was an assistant coach with the indoor 51ºÚÁÏ Steamers from 1979 to 1985.
Gene Francis Sorber (as a child, someone called him “Little Pete,†after his father, and the name stuck) was born Aug. 1, 1929. He attended South Side High (now St. Mary’s), didn’t go to college and played only as an amateur in the extensive club system that existed in 51ºÚÁÏ at the time. He served three years in the Navy, then went to work for the Wabash Railroad and as a fireman in the city of 51ºÚÁÏ.
It was while a fireman, working on the snorkel crew out of a firehouse downtown, that he joined Flo Valley. Keough was leaving Flo Valley to take the SLU job and recommended Sorber, who had retired as a player two years before and had been coaching at St. Mary’s, for the job, figuring Sorber could fit that into his fireman’s schedule the same way Keough had juggled coaching and being a mailman.
Sorber had been skeptical of taking the job because of the long commute from his home on the South Side but said yes. The success was immediate, and after two seasons, he was able to quit being a fireman and work full time at Flo Valley, adding the job of gym supervisor.
Some prominent local players moved through Sorber’s program, including Steve Pecher and Denny Vanniger, both of whom went straight from Flo Valley to play in the North American Soccer League (“Without Pete, there’s no Pecher,†McVey said) and later for the U.S. national team. Mike Margulis was playing at Flo Valley when he was selected for the 1972 U.S. Olympic team.
Sorber is survived by his wife of 64 years, Marlene; his son, Mike, currently the coach of 51ºÚÁÏ City SC’s under-16 academy team; and two grandchildren. Funeral arrangements are pending.
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