If you don’t know Mike Ryan, chances are that you know someone who does. Ryan’s in the bedrock for the local soccer community.
If you don’t know Mike Ryan, chances are that you know someone who does. Ryan’s in the bedrock for the local soccer community, having settled here in 1962 and been active in its development ever since. He served as the first president of both the state youth and women’s associations and has coached, among others, the University of Washington men and U.S. national team women. Today you can find him on the touchline for Lake City’s Nathan Hale High School, where he guides the girls in the fall and boys in the spring.
You’ve been involved with the game for so long. What got you hooked?
While in Germany and in the service, I was a big fan of Eintracht
Frankfurt and how they played. I went to Glasgow for the European
championship. Frankfurt was playing Real Madrid, and I couldn’t believe
what I was seeing. Real Madrid played in such a way that it took my
breath away. This was the soccer I wanted to see, that I wanted to
coach.
As a native of Dublin, how did you come to settle in Seattle?
I had come back from overseas and was stationed for a time at Fort
Lewis. I picked up a newspaper and read about a big soccer game with a
fight. I said to myself, ‘I’ve found a home.’ The next weekend I went
to Lower Woodland and the first person I ran into was Whitey Craggs. He
said the other team was short a player that day. I went over and played
against Whitey’s team, Buchan Bakers, and scored three goals that day.
His players were mad as heck at him for letting me go, but they invited
me to come back the next weekend and stay with them. I fell in love
with Seattle and decided I wasn’t going back to New York. I took my
discharge here and have been here ever since.
Describe the soccer landscape when you came here in 1962.
We had ethnic teams, Buchan, the Hungarians, the Germans, the Russians.
A lot of the Hungarian guys had gone to Austria, and then got visas to
come to the United States as refugees. Ballan Duetz, who owned the
bakery in Burien, he put an ad out looking for player who wanted to
relocate. And they attracted some absolutely fantastic players who
could’ve played in any division.
It sounds so colorful. So what was the weekend scene like a Woodland Park?
It was unbelievable, like a carnival. You would see the people six deep
around the fields on a Sunday. To be all there, singing and having
picnics. Ed Craggs, George’s dad, was the organizer and would publish
the soccer news and we’d get that before the game. It had all the
lineups and the scorers and the guys loved that. The people loved it.
How do you recall the youth game getting a foothold?
The CYO (Catholic Youth Organization) was the hotbed. There were lots
of kids but nowhere for them to go. I went to Buchans and said how
about a 2nd team? First game we went out and played the Hungarians beat
us 16-0. But they were so gracious and told them not to worry about the
score. Three years after that, those same boys were first division
champions. For about five years, we won about everything around here.
The league had gone up to 3-4 divisions. But this was the start.
How quickly did it spread?
Well, I’ll give you an example. In Bellevue, it started one Saturday
morning with 38 kids coming to the field, and we split them into four
games. The kids didn’t know what they were doing, but at the end we
asked them to bring a brother or sister or friend the next weekend. We
had 90 kids the following Saturday. Jack Goldingay worked all the
Eastside and soon there were teams coming out of the woodwork.
How did all the local clubs unite and eventually form a state association?
I called the first meeting at my house, which I’d just bought and
hadn’t furnished. We sat by the fireplace and determined we had to get
a league, had to get an association and communications. I guess you
could say that was the first meeting Washington State Youth Soccer
Association. We had a meeting down in Tacoma the next month and I was
elected the first president.
You were named the University of Washington men’s coach,
and your name is also associated with helping the women’s game take
shape. How’s that?
A lady came up to me one day after our men’s practice. Her name was
Debbie Barlow, and she asked if I would help start a women’s program?
There were 32 women playing intramurals. We asked anybody interested in
a women’s to meet at the Sherwood Inn to meet about a women’s league.
We had nine teams from Bellingham and Tacoma the first year. I was
elected the first president, for one year. After one year they were
more than organized and went ahead of the guys in terms of organization
after one year with their leagues. It went from nine teams to 40 to 153
to 300, and pretty soon we ran out of the field; the parks department
told us we couldn’t add any more teams.
It must be mind-boggling to see what’s occurred 30-40 years later.
When Manchester and Celtic played at Qwest Field, it sold out in two
hours and I couldn’t believe it. That night, my friends and I stood and
looked around at the crowd. I said, ‘Isn’t this like Disneyland?’ This
is what we had always wanted. Our national team should be playing here.
It’s been unbelievable, and now MLS is coming. There are some fabulous
players in that league and I’m really looking forward to that.
And at 72 you’re still coaching. First the Nathan Hale
boys and then becoming the girls varsity coach last fall. You’re not
exactly retired, are you?
I’m more vigorous than I ever was. I keep studying and watching games.
I may be a little older but my mind’s sharper than it ever was. I
didn’t go to the high school to prove anything, I just love working
with kids. I love teaching.
