Peter Bridgwater, one of the men responsible for keeping professional outdoor soccer alive after the collapse of the North American Soccer League, died Tuesday night at the age of 70 after a long bout with cancer.
Bridgwater is the only man to head the front offices of teams in the NASL (San Jose Earthquakes) and MLS (San Jose Clash), but his most important work was in keeping pro soccer alive in the Bay Area.
He helped found the Western Soccer Alliance in 1985 after the demise of the NASL. He ran the Earthquakes, winners of the inaugural WSA in 1985, for four years. The WSA became the WSL in 1989, followed by the APSL in 1990, A-League in 1997 and USL First Division in 2005.
Bridgwater organized many international matches and was venue director for the 1994 World Cup games in Stanford.
He was born and raised in England and came to North America to become the general manager of the Vancouver Whitecaps in 1979.
A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Tuesday at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, 13601 Saratoga Ave. in Saratoga, Calif.