John Schepers

John Cornelius Schepers... he married his wife Barbara in July 1969... he was 10 years old when his family moved from Tiel to Winnipeg... favourites have included Pelé, Manchester United FC...

honoured by the Canada Soccer Hall of Fame as a player... he was formally inducted to the Canada Soccer Hall of Fame on 24 March 2019 ahead of a Canada match at BC Place in Vancouver...

represented Canada on the four-week tour to the Soviet Union and United Kingdom in 1960... represented Canada in Olympic Qualifiers and the Pan American Games in 1971... Canada’s second-best goalscorer in 1971 across Olympic Qualifiers and Pan American Games (five goals)... made 10 international appearances in 1971 with Canada Soccer’s Men’s National Team...

with Winnipeg AN&AF Scottish FC, a Canada Soccer Football Championship winner (Challenge Trophy in 1962)... a five-time Manitoba Cup winner (1959, 1962, 1972, 1974, 1975), a Saskatchewan Shield winner (inc 1963), and a two-time Alberta Cup winner (1967, 1968)... a three-time Western Canada Soccer League winner (1963, 1964, 1968)... he was the Western Canada Soccer League’s all-time scoring leader (131 goals from 1963 to 1971)... he led the Western Canada Soccer League in scoring four times and was the league’s top scorer in the 1960s with 102 goals scored... in 1962, he was the first teenager to score a hat trick in a Canada Soccer Championship match (he scored four goals in Winnipeg Scottish FC’s 6:0 victory)... from 1959 to 1983 across 25 seasons, he took part in a joint-record 16 editions of Canada Soccer’s National Championships... on 2 September 1978, he became just the fifth player to score 20 career goals in Canada Soccer’s national championship (he retired tied fourth all-time with 20 goals scored from 1959 to 1983)...

wrote Vince Leah on 22 September after the 1962 Canadian final, Schepers was "brighter than the glorious sunshine (that) tore the Edmonton defence apart in the second half with four fine goals"... wrote Donald Pho in 1963, although he prefers to play centre forward, he occasionally switches positions... there’s the fact that he has more running room on the outside but he has already proven that he can shoot with authority from any position”... wrote John Swan in 1966, he had “great speed and (a) booming shot”... wrote Vince Leah in 1971 after an exhibition match, Schepers’ “speed was overwhelming”... wrote John Dewar, Schepers was a “gifted scorer”...

said John Schepers in 2018 of his successes as a player, “you just remember walking into a dressing room and just being able to celebrate with your teammates, those were the good times”... said Andy Sharpe in 2018, “Johnny could score goals and he was very, very fast. He took care of himself, he was good in the locker room and he just went about business”...