He attended St. Mary's High School where he played on the 1970 Undefeated Missouri State championship soccer team.

[1] During those years, the Billikens won the NCAA Division I national championship three times (1970, 1972 and 1973).

[2] During his college years, he also played for St. Louis Kutis S.C. with whom he won the 1971 National Amateur Cup.

In 1974, the St. Louis Stars of the North American Soccer League drafted Bokern.

That season, he had taken the Oakville High School soccer team to the State Championship.