Jon Bakero loved soccer growing up, but it came with a built-in problem. Whenever he got on the pitch, people didn’t see Jon.
They saw the son of Jose Mari Bakero, a name that lives in FC Barcelona lore. It got a little tiresome being known as “The son of….”
“I’m really proud of my last name, and my dad’s my role model,” Bakero said. “But coming here and being known as Jon, not ‘The son of,’ was really important to me.”
“Here” was the USA, Winston-Salem, N.C., to be specific. Bakero showed up at Wake Forest four years ago in a move marked with mystery.
He didn’t know much about collegiate soccer, much less if he’d have a professional future. And almost nobody on campus knew anything about Bakero or his father.
Wherever he ended up, he would have to get there on his own.
And just look where he is now. Bakero is in Orlando, impressing just about everyone at the MLS Combine.
It’s not just his vision and playmaking skills. The center forward is the kind of guy MLS executives would like to take home to meet their daughters.
He’s studious, driven, can discuss soccer in six languages and seems like a success story that is bound to continue.
“Coming from Spain to the U.S. as a 17-year-old is not an easy thing,” he said, “but it was the best decision for me.”
His parents told their son they most wanted him to return some day with a college degree. If soccer worked out, that would be a bonus.
At the time, Bakero was playing for a youth club in Barcelona and unsure he’d ever go far beyond that.
“In Europe, it’s pretty hard if you’re young and not in a good system or playing professionally by 16 or 17,” he said. “Wake Forest was the perfect place for me.”
Being known as Jose Bakero’s son did play a small role in getting there. A friend of his father’s knew somebody who helped U.S. colleges find European players.
Wake Forest coaches were in Spain scouting around, and the contact set up a workout. The Demon Deacons offered Bakero a scholarship, and he landed in Winston-Salem a day before preseason practice began.
“I really didn’t know what college soccer was, or anything like that,” Bakero said.
He found it quite to his liking. Bakero tied for the team lead in goals as a freshman, and kept improving. By the time his four years were over, he was a consensus All American, the NCAA Division 1 leading scorer and winner of the MAC Hermann Trophy as the nation’s top male collegiate player.
It wasn’t just that. Bakero embraced the entire college experience
He was on Atlantic Coast Conferences All-Academic team. He was active in charity work around Winston-Salem and drove around campus in a golf cart passing out tickets to his team’s games.
It’s safe to say his father never had trouble giving away tickets to FC Barcelona games, especially after the club won the European Cup in 1992.
It did, thanks largely Jose Bakero. He played 483 games in La Liga over 17 years and appeared in two World Cups for Spain.
What he’s most remembered for is his last-minute goal against Kaiserslautern in the quarterfinals. Bakero out-jumped three defenders and headed the ball into the far side of the goal to save Barcelona from elimination.
That’s the kind of thing that sentences a boy to forever being asked, “Aren’t you the son of…?” Of course, most people in Winston-Salem just remember 1992 as the year the Demon Deacons football team won the Independence Bowl, not the year Barcelona conquered Europe.
That’s fine by Bakero.
“When you accomplish something (in Europe), people say ‘He got here because whatever,’” he said. “I think here, everything I accomplished was because of my work rate and talent, and I’m really happy about that.”
So is Jose Mari. Though if this keeps up, he might be known as “The father of….” At least around the MLS.
“Four years ago, I never imagined being here. So I take every day as a gift,” he said. “I’m doing what I love for a living, so I’m going to take it day by day and focus on my career in MLS and do the best I can.”