Message Forum

Holly,

Women's Soccer? Glad you are a fan. In the early 80’s I got my certification to be an AYSO soccer referee, and they mostly assigned me to games with about 15 year old girls….as seen in this picture of me trying to keep up at the Elmhurst Park District in 1984. I was in decent shape, but these girls still ran me ragged. I learned to call fouls to slow the action. The blond on the right, a striker, was terrific, and I wouldn’t be surprised if her daughter is playing for Stanford today.

11/22/11 05:41 PM

#2337

Jack:

Didn't know that Jack.

I was the first lady soccer coach under AYSO in El Paso, TX. There weren't enough men participating here at that time. I had never seen a game. I read the instructions and taught the kids. I had both boys and girls. We placed second in city. That seemed to really irk the dads who were competing. I was told they all went out to a bar nearby after that. Their wives called to tell me without the guys knowing.

Hello to Dianne Shaffer!

11/22/11 10:34 PM

#2338

Well, Linda, since you had both boys and girls on the same team, I'm assuming you coached the younger kids. I used to like watching them, because no matter what you tell them, they swarm to the ball like a colony of bees.

Keep reading those instructions.....maybe we'll see you coaching in the World Cup???

11/22/11 11:42 PM

#2339

Steve Jetton

I coached my daughter's soccer team for several years. Didn't know a darn thing about soccer but they needed a warm body. No 2nd place finishes, so Linda beats me there. But I do recall the crowning "achievement" of getting a yellow card for yelling at the ref about an offsides call.

It was fun. You're right, they'd basically swarm after the ball at the younger ages. Scoring was either an accident or you might be lucky enough to have a star who could break away from the pack every now and then and out run everybody to the goal. I think the highlight for most of 'em was the post game treat. I never cultivated a taste for those little boxes of fruit punch, so I had to wait until I got home for my treat.

11/23/11 01:30 AM

#2340

Jack and Steve:

I had 8 year olds that were left over from 3 elementary schools. We were the only coed team. The dads refused to coach girls. I had a boy ballet dancer and a girl tap dancer that could run ....do a flip...and land running. They were fun to have on the team. I had a big van then and took all 17 home afterwards. After the games, win or lose, we went to Baskin Robbins for a Matterhorn (7 scoops) per person. As little as they were those kids could eat ice cream. But......of course we live in the desert and its hotter than heck for sports.

Some of the dads had not played sports and wanted to relive their life through their son being a jock. Irked them immeasureably when we beat them. We were the only team to beat the #1 team. That dad was so mad he kicked and punched his own vehicle. Our team just laughed at him. Almost everyone on his team stayed with him as they aged and played soccer. Everyone of them ended up on drugs from his son selling to them.

My kids.......have been fine. Thank goodness! The tap dancer was in a bad car wreck returning to college at Texas A & M, from Christmas break in 1990. She had to learnn to walk and talk again. All of our team contacted her for the year she was recuperating. There were good kids and are also as adults.

Linda

11/23/11 01:37 AM

#2341

Questions for everyone! Who all married someone from our class? How many are there?

Does anyone know? Can you name them and make a list?

How many of our class are currenly locals in Bloomington, or the close proximity thereof, not to exceed the distance to Peoria?

Linda

11/23/11 04:33 AM

#2342

Harriett (Holly) Rust (Wood)

I can help with part of that, Linda. 103 live in McLean County. Even more within the limits of the distance to Peoria.

11/23/11 06:14 AM

#2343

In case I forget tomorrow, I want to wish each of you a Happy Thanksgiving!! I am thankful to have reconnected with you and look forward to many more years of interaction!!

It was fun to read the soccer posts! Six of my seven kids played soccer and there are dozens of stories, but the two youngest played very high level which meant Thanksgiving was always travel to a tournament as was President's weekend, Memorial Day weekend, Labor Day weekend, 4th of July and so on. There was a period of several years where I worked Bingo numerous nights a month for various teams to earn the money for the kids travel. I don't know if they do this in other areas, but in the Denver area there were a lot of Bingo parlors and non-profit groups provided the workers. I always had a head for numbers which meant I soon was cashiering...you were the last to leave as you had to do all the money counts and then take the money to the night deposit at the bank (usually about 2:30 am)...but you got double credit for your child's account. It was tax free money into their travel fund but those long nights in smoke filled rooms got old...or maybe I just got old.

11/23/11 10:02 AM

#2344

Karen Sue (Suzi) Denton (Merritt)

Just for old time’s sake, Steve, I might have red carded you and had you removed from the premises.

Although I don’t remember red carding anyone, Linda hit it right; it was mostly the parents, not the coaches, who were the problem. These former non-jocks were sometimes desperate for their kids to be stars.

Soccer and I go way back, and one of my greatest regrets in life is that neither BHS nor ISU had a soccer team in the 60’s.

As kids, Steve Norton had a way to get us into Second Presbyterian Church on weekends. There, we often played one on one basketball, and more often than not, he edged me out. Frustrated, I’d set up soccer goals and it was not unusual for me to beat him 20-0. Of course, he would then disparage the sport. In later years, I reminded him of that at The Caboose. He seemed to have gotten smarter with age.

Anyway, AYSO was big and well organized around here, and the kids would take field trips to go watch The Sting (professional). Too long a story, but that brought me into a whole new world as I re-lived my own childhood.

11/23/11 06:38 PM

#2345

Helen,

Maybe that buck is mooning Mary!!!

11/23/11 06:41 PM

#2346

Karen Sue (Suzi) Denton (Merritt)

Helen, you are lucky to have the beauty of animals in your yard! At our old house we had squirrels and rabbits but no deer.

11/23/11 07:55 PM

#2347

The deer is beautiful. I don't get anything like that here. We just have mountain lions, rattlesnakes, turantulas, scorpions, hawks, Mexican fox, porcupines, and desert quail.

After being out of Illinois for such a long time, I know longer know of dangerous animals there. I'm pretty good at cutting off the heads of rattlers here. They travel in pairs.

11/23/11 08:59 PM

#2348

Marilyn Evans (Tate)

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving! YUM!!

11/23/11 09:03 PM

#2349

Happy Birthday Fred Livings !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

11/23/11 09:53 PM

#2350

I am a lucky guy. I have all the things I dreamed of having when I was young. Rich? No monetarily but rich just the same. I want to thank the Class of 1964 for accepting me as one of your own. I have been lucky to see the growth this group has shown. Keep up the good work.

11/24/11 11:13 AM

#2351

Julie Hart

i too love soccer. all three of my kids played. one of the most amazing events of my life was going to the world cup quarterfinals game in dallas in 94. brazil beat the netherlands 3-2. and somewhere alex, my son, ran into cobi jones and got his autograph for me (i've always had a big crush on him.)

11/24/11 08:58 PM

#2352

Happy Birthday Jim Fry !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

11/25/11 05:04 PM

#2353

Julie, I was also at the '94 World Cup quarterfinals at Soldier Field, along with Oprah and lesser dignitaries such as world heads of state. The German team stayed in Oak Brook, and worked out at Hinsdale South HS. Of course, I was there to watch them practice. They lost to surprising Bulgaria (4th) 2-1, and heads had to roll back home.

This was an all time great sports experience, but equal to it to me was in 1981, when the Chicago Sting beat the San Diego Shockers in a NASL semi final match at the old Comiskey Park. Attendance was just a hair under 40,000. I took a bunch of people from The Mart there, and they deemed it the most exciting sporting event they ever saw. The Sting went on to Toronto to beat the New York Cosmos for the championship, Chicago's first in many years.

I was and am personal friends with Sting and NASL great Karl Heinz Granitza, but have had no contact with him since 2005.

11/25/11 08:56 PM

#2354

Happy Birthday Mary Erickson Colteaux !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

11/25/11 08:58 PM

#2355