LA Galaxy: From the beginning, kitman Raul Vargas has seen it all | OneFootball

By Jon Arnold

EDITOR'S NOTE: In celebration of Major League Soccer's 30th season, MLSsoccer.com is exploring untold stories about all 30 clubs. "30 Clubs, 30 Stories" will be unveiled throughout 2025.

When it comes to one story, a single tale that represents the 30-year history of the LA Galaxy, it feels impossible to select just one. But it is possible to find one man who has been there for all of them.

Raul Vargas has worked as the club’s equipment manager since 1996, going through the ups, the downs and rescuing the team from off-field emergencies on more than one occasion. Now, Vargas said, he's rarely surprised, no matter who may walk into the locker room, what happens on the field or, as he remembers with a laugh, a player who was a late add to the travel roster who didn't have a shirt and they had to scramble to a sporting goods store to find something that would work.

MLSsoccer.com asked Vargas to name his favorite memories while working with the club, guiding us through the outstanding history of one of the league’s original teams and its reigning champion.

Vargas has played a part in many titles, ranging from the 1998 Supporters’ Shield to last season’s MLS Cup, but the relationships with the players and staff who have come through the doors the last 30 seasons have made him want to continue showing up early to prepare the locker room and staying late tearing it down.

“Of course, the wins are important, but the gratitude from players who have been here with us and show that when they see me, that’s what sticks with me,” he said.

As you’ll see, though, the trophies are pretty good as well.

One of the league’s most colorful clubs is born

Before the formation of MLS, Vargas was trying to find his path. Good with garments, he approached legendary goalkeeper Jorge Campos before a Mexico B-team friendly against Cameroon and asked about a partnership to sell shirts using his image. Known for making his own jerseys with bright, colorful patterns, Campos not only agreed but kept Vargas in mind when he signed for the Galaxy ahead of the team’s inaugural season.

“When he got to the league in ’96, the first international player signed by the league, he spoke with the coaching staff at that time, Mr. Lothar Osiander and his assistant, Octavio Zambrano. He told them to give me the chance and, well, here I am still – since ’96,” Vargas said.

Vargas said that the initial team has a special place in his heart, fondly reminiscing on their run to the inaugural MLS Cup, though the Galaxy fell short after going up 2-0. Things were very different, though, not only when it came to his role as equipment manager, but also as a fan of the league.

“There weren’t the [same] broadcasts. Now, you look at how much the league has grown today with its own channel for broadcasting matches," Vargas said of MLS Season Pass on Apple TV. "It’s something you love to see, knowing the advances the league has taken.”

Galaxy go international

The Concacaf Champions Cup also looked much different at the start of Vargas’ tenure than it does now, but in some ways, that made the Galaxy’s win in the 2000 tournament that much more special.

The matches took place over a week in Southern California, with the Galaxy getting past Real España at Titan Stadium in Fullerton and MLS rival D.C. United at the Coliseum to reach the final.

“It was marvelous to see, in 2000, the team win its first international title, beating Olimpia of Honduras, 3-2," Vargas said. "The goals that were scored were spectacular, with Cobi Jones, so many other good players. Ezra Hendrickson played with us as well. It was marvelous.”

The Galaxy conceded first, but a Hendrickson double sandwiched around Jones’ left-footed strike, even as Olimpia found an equalizer, meant they lifted international silverware for the first time in the club’s history.

Vargas and the Galaxy were ready to head to Spain for the Club World Cup just months later, but FIFA canceled the 2001 edition of the tournament because of issues with its marketing partner.

“Unfortunately, we couldn’t go to the Club World Cup because of circumstances that were out of the teams’ hands," he said. "Something happened, and they canceled the Club World Cup, but it was spectacular.”

The win meant the Galaxy are one of just two MLS teams to win the continental prize since 2000, joining Seattle Sounders FC in 2022, with Vancouver Whitecaps FC competing in the 2025 final on June 1.

David Beckham changes everything

You can’t write the Galaxy’s history without mentioning the moment David Beckham joined the club, and for Vargas, the arrival of the global superstar marked a turning point.

“When he signed with the league, I realized the potential that was going to come. Signing David meant they knew about MLS all over the world. They talked about the Galaxy all over the world. He put it on the map,” he said.

Overnight, the Galaxy became the biggest story not just in American sports but also around the world, with interest in seeing the England international and former Manchester United midfielder leading the Galaxy to play a series of friendlies abroad in addition to extra matches in the United States.

“They started doing the tours to countries that I never imagined I’d visit – New Zealand, Australia, Korea, China, Japan – thanks to the impact David’s decision had. It wasn’t just him. Robbie Keane, Cobi Jones, Landon Donovan, all that group of stars put the Galaxy in the top spot, from its beginning to today,” Vargas said.

While Beckham put the Galaxy brand, and MLS as a whole, in front of entirely new audiences, what still stands out to Vargas is “the simplicity he had. He never lost his grounding,” Vargas said. “He always was there for the team.”

Mexican connection

While Jorge Campos brought Vargas, a Juárez native, into the Galaxy fold, “El Brody” was hardly the last Mexico star who would put on the blue and gold (or the green and yellow that preceded it) of the Galaxy. LA have continued to look for El Tri players to bring in, and Vargas has cherished getting to know players he supported from afar once they arrive at the Dignity Health Sports Park facilities.

“Since Jorge got here, the club has gone for signings of Mexican stars. After Jorge, there was Carlos Hermosillo, after him, Luis Hernández. The Dos Santos’ – Gio, Jonathan – and Chicharito. As a Mexican, it’s been a satisfaction to work for them, see someone who you’ve admired and then have him in the locker room and see it’s not like people say about them, that they have their humble side, their good side, the charisma that allowed them to be idols both on and off the field.”

Vargas also has a special fondness for a Mexican-American player he worked with, even though he represented the United States internationally.

“Hérculez Gómez became a champion with us, winning titles with us in 2005 – both the Open Cup and MLS Cup. He also was a champion with Santos in Mexico!” Vargas noted.

Riqui & Co. break the drought

Today, the Galaxy are led by a manager whom Vargas first met as a player in the club’s inaugural season, so it was a touching moment for him to see Greg Vanney take over as coach and lead the Galaxy to their first MLS Cup in a decade.

The 2024 team, with Killa Ps trident Riqui Puig, Gabriel Pec and Joseph Paintsil in attack, Southern California native Mark Delgado in the midfield, and striker Dejan Joveljić spearheading it all, captured the club’s record sixth MLS Cup title.

“It was a group of guys who, although they were young, they put all their heart and emphasis on achieving history – the majority of them are young, but we fortunately got to have a really good relationship in the locker room,” Vargas said. “Unfortunately, the changes and injuries and everything are making things go poorly this season, but soon it will turn around and we can get back to being the team we’ve been for so many years.”

While 2025 has seen the Galaxy struggle to mount a title defense, Vargas has seen these difficult moments before – and seen the club come out of them enough to have plenty more stories of success.

“It doesn’t matter what might happen, there won’t be another team like the Galaxy in MLS. Whatever teams will come, they’ll never match the records the Galaxy have set in these 30 years,” he said.

Other teams will give it a go, but what does seem certain is there won’t be another equipment manager who puts together a three-decade run like Vargas and enjoys so many moments with so many stars of the game, with those players stopping pre-match to offer Vargas a fist bump or a big hug and show gratitude for the stories they remember from their time together.

MLS Cup 2024 interview: LA Galaxy equipment manager Raul Vargas