I’m seven years older than Soccer America and have worked for the magazine a third of my life.
I first read Soccer America at age 11 while living in Hawaii. The magazine kept me in touch with the Dallas Tornado, the NASL team I had abandoned after going to every home game.
When told of the move to the islands, the prospect of paradise was tempered by fear there may not be soccer in Hawaii. The fear was fueled by a book my father had. The United States Soccer Football Association 1973 yearbook had a “Roll Call of the States.” In its updates from 27 states, Hawaii wasn’t mentioned.
But in Hawaii, I came across some boys playing soccer. One told me that AYSO had arrived in the islands.
I had paradise, soccer and the Tornado because we started subscribing to Soccer America.
In high school, I would go into Coach Bob Barry’s classroom and look at Soccer America and spend time with the College Choice issue.
At age 15, my name appeared in the magazine, on page 13 in the Jan. 18 issue:
“With only two minutes to play and both teams preparing for overtime, Mike Woitalla, Iolani midfielder, found himself all alone in front of the goal and scored the winning goal.”
Never mind the description of my downing a mighty mainland foe didn’t do justice — it was a searing 25-yard shot — I saw my name in a national magazine!
That wasn’t going to happen again — unless I started working for the magazine.
The great thing about it is, while doing an interview for this 25th anniversary issue, I got to tell Philadelphia Atoms goalkeeper Bob Rigby how mad I was at him 23 years ago when he stole the ’73 NASL championship from the Tornado.
by Soccer America Senior Editor Mike Woitalla