February 17, 1974: Johan Cruijff, the Hero of Barcelona

February 17, 1974: Futbol Club Barcelona win El Clásico, the biggest sports rivalry in Spain, defeating Real Madrid Club de Fútbol, 5-0 at Estadio Santiago Bernabéu. For the people of Catalonia, for whom FC Barcelona are a cultural touchstone -- as they say, "Més que un club" ("More than a club") -- it is the beginning of the end of the tyranny over their home region.

On this day, the power of Francisco Franco cannot compete with that of Johan Cruijff.

The Dutch soccer star -- whose name is usually written outside his homeland as "Cruyff" -- had starred for his hometown team, AFC Ajax in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, leading them to 3 straight European Cup wins.

But all good things must come to an end. In August 1973, due to infighting at Ajax, Cruijff wanted out, and he got it: His former manager Rinus Michels brought him to Barcelona, for what was then a world record transfer fee, worth about $2 million at the time. Barça fans, known as cules, were ecstatic, getting the man then generally regarded as the best player in the world, something their arch-rivals, Real Madrid, had previously had with Ferenc Puskás and Alfredo Di Stéfano. Now, it was La Blaugrana who had this advantage over Los Merengues.

Crujiff married a woman named Danny Coster. They had daughters Chantal in 1970 and Susila in 1972. They maintained a home in Barcelona from 1973 onward. On February 9, 1974, their son was born. Johan gave his son a Catalan name: Johan Jordi Cruijff. Naming his son after Jordi, Catalonia's patron saint, further endeared him to the Catalan people, especially since Spanish dictator Francisco Franco (who would be dead within 2 years), said to have fixed titles in favor of Real Madrid, had banned all use of Catalan national symbols. (Jordi Cruyff, as his name has usually been written, went on to have a decent career as a player, but people always expected more from the son of Cruijff.)

But what the cules really loved about him came just 8 days later: On February 17, 1974, Barcelona went to Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, Real Madrid's mighty 100,000-seat home stadium, and beat them 5-0. Cruijff scored one goal, and assisted on 2 others. It should have been 6-1, but Barcelona had a goal disallowed, and Real Madrid were denied a penalty. If Crujiff had never played another game for La Blaugrana, they would have loved him forever for this game alone.

Note that the captain's armband is the Catalan flag.

Barcelona won La Liga in 1974. It all seemed to be setting Cruijff up for the greatest prize of all: The World Cup. The tournament was being held in West Germany, and the Dutch team seemed to have the best of all Dutch worlds. Alas, in the Final, they had to face West Germany, with several players from Bayern Munich, who had replaced Ajax as European Cup winners, and they had to play it in Munich. The Germans won, and while the Dutch have never complained about the officiating or the home-field advantage, they also have never gotten over the defeat.

Cruijff remained with Barcelona until 1978, seeing the death of Franco and Spain's return to democracy. He then went to America to play for the Los Angeles Aztecs and the Washington Diplomats of the North American Soccer League, before going back to Europe. He would manage both Ajax and Barcelona. He wanted to copy the Ajax Academy that had produced himself and so many other great players. It was established on land owned by the club, outside a 1702 house known as La Masia ("The Farmhouse"), and La Masia has remained the academy's name ever since. It has kept the talent flowing, well into the age of Lionel Messi.

He died in 2016. Ajax subsequently renamed its Amsterdam Arena for him. But he may be more loved in Barcelona, not just for his performances, especially this one, but for what they represented against the Fascist regime then ruling Spain.

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February 17, 1974 was a Sunday. Actor Jerry O'Connell was born. And the Zamalek Stadium disaster happened in Egypt. I have a separate entry for that event.

Baseball and football were out of season. There were 8 games in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Milwaukee Bucks, 97-86 at the Milwaukee Exposition & Convention Center Arena, a.k.a. The MECCA. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had 32 points and 23 rebounds.

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 118-107 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Capital Bullets -- as the Washington Bullets were known in their 1st season only -- beat the Boston Celtics, 99-95 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Golden State Warriors beat the Chicago Bulls, 108-105 at the Chicago Stadium.

* The Buffalo Braves beat the Houston Rockets, 135-118 at the Hofheinz Pavilion (now the Fertitta Center) in Houston. Bob McAdoo scored 38 points.

* The Phoenix Suns beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 112-100 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 113-110 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California. Gail Goodrich of the Lakers and Lou Hudson of the Hawks each scored 35 points. Pete Maravich of the Hawks scored 32.

* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 106-97 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.

There were 3 games in the American Basketball Association:

* The Virginia Squires beat the Kentucky Colonels, 118-113 at The Scope in Norfolk, Virginia. Jim Eakins scored 41 points.

* The Indiana Pacers beat the Denver Rockets, 93-92 at the Auditorium Arena in Denver.

* And the San Diego Conquistadors beat the Carolina Cougars, 129-123 at the San Diego Sports Arena (now the Pechanga Arena). Travis Grant scored 41.

There were 4 games in the NHL:

* The Montreal Canadiens and the Philadelphia Flyers played to a tie, 2-2 at the Montreal Forum.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Detroit Red Wings, 2-1 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

* The Chicago Black Hawks beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-1 at the Chicago Stadium. Yes, it hosted an NBA game and an NHL game on the same day.

* And the Minnesota North Stars beat the California Golden Seals, 7-1 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

And there were 6 games in the World Hockey Association:

* The Jersey Knights beat the Quebec Nordiques, 10-3 at the Cherry Hill Arena in the Philadelphia suburb of Cherry Hill, New Jersey.

* The Cleveland Crusaders beat the Chicago Cougars, 6-5 at the Cleveland Arena.

* The New England Whalers beat the Winnipeg Jets, 3-2 in overtime at the Winnipeg Arena.

* The Minnesota Fighting Saints beat the Houston Aeros, 6-1 at the Sam Houston Coliseum in Houston.

* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Toronto Toros, 3-2 in overtime at the Edmonton Gardens.

* And the Vancouver Blazers beat the Los Angeles Sharks, 4-0 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena.