I’ve worked in minor league baseball since I was a batboy in 1978. Over the years, I have also umpired and coached baseball at many levels, however, it has become apparent that soccer has been a greater part of my life than baseball.

My first exposure to soccer came in the mid-1970s as I watched Pele and the New York Cosmos, of the North American Soccer League (NASL), on television every week. That led me to wanting to play soccer for my junior high school and then in high school.

Even though I had to quit the high school soccer team my senior year, because the marching band became my first priority, I didn’t give up the sport. Following graduation, I was recruited to play for the Jamestown Soccer Club, a semi-pro team in the Interstate Soccer League. I played for that team in the summers while I attended Jamestown Community College, which didn’t have a soccer program at the time.

During my high school years, I began going to the Buffalo Stallions games on a regular basis. The Stallions played in the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL), and there were many players in that league who I watched play in the NASL outdoor league. I was blessed to get to know several of the players on the Buffalo team and to meet a few of the players on the other teams in the league. One of the Buffalo players, Tom Murray, was my connection to getting comp tickets to all the games.

Following two years at J.C.C., I transferred to Oral Roberts University where I played on the soccer team my junior and senior years. In the winter, our ORU team would play in a local indoor soccer league to stay in shape. After graduating from ORU, I went back to Jamestown, where an indoor soccer league had been formed. I had fallen in love with the indoor game and played in that league.

A few years later, I moved back to Tulsa and began refereeing soccer. When my son became old enough to start playing sports, I assisted with coaching his youth baseball and soccer teams. I didn’t want to be the head coach because I didn’t want to deal with the parents, or lugging equipment to practices and games. When my daughter came along, I also was an assistant coach for her soccer teams.

After 20 years of refereeing rec and competitive soccer, I retired in 2010. After all, my kids had grown up and I didn’t need to be spending my weekends at the soccer complexes around the state any longer. It wasn’t worth the few bucks I made to be out in all types of weather, hot or cold, and dealing with parents that didn’t know the rules.

SOCCER LIFE TODAY

Six years ago, I had a goofy idea to ask the Summit Christian Academy head coach, Marc Langebartels, if he could use an assistant. Much to my surprise he said, “Yes.” I really didn’t know if I would enjoy coaching boys and girls high school soccer, but I have to admit, it’s been a lot of fun and very rewarding. I began as a volunteer coach, and now I’m on staff, which seems weird because it wasn’t my intent.

The Summit boys team won the district title for the third straight year and both teams are currently playing in the 3A playoffs. We are really hoping to bring a “Gold Ball” to SCA.

A few years ago, I heard of a position available with the United Soccer League (USL) and they needed someone right here in Tulsa. I applied, and because of my soccer background I was hired to be a match observer for the Tulsa Roughnecks/FC Tulsa games. I performed those duties for three seasons, and in that role, I was given the task of making sure there were no major issues with conducting the game. I observed and reported on everything from security to performance of the referees. It was a fun job, but with a season that runs from March to October, it took up way too much of my time, and interfered with high school soccer in the spring and ORU soccer in the fall.

Yes, I’m also involved with ORU soccer. For many years I have been the P.A. announcer for men’s and women’s soccer at ORU, and last year I was asked to switch to doing the play-by-play for the live stream broadcasts of the home soccer matches. Again, because of my soccer knowledge and background.

So, even though as a kid, I dreamed of working in baseball, and I have, it seems soccer has become the more dominant sport in my life, and that’s okay. In a few years, hopefully I’ll be watching my grandkids play soccer and then I’ll be giving them a few pointers.

TULSA BEACON RADIO

My guest this week on “Tulsa Beacon Weekend” will be Ken MacLeod, we will talk golf and the upcoming LIV Tour stop in Broken Arrow, and Steve Whitaker from John 3:16 Mission will give us an update. The show airs on Saturday at 12:00 p.m. CST on 970am KCFO.