A Short History of Soccer in the Knoxville Area
Jonas T. Holdeman, Jr.
Prepared 4/12/90
When the United States was selected to hold the 1994 world cup games, a group from the Knoxville area prepared a bid proposing Knoxville and Neyland Stadium on the University of Tennessee campus as one of the venues for some of the early round games. This history of soccer in the Knoxville area was prepared as part of that bid package.
The Early Years, 1962-1976
There is probably no one around now who knows when soccer was first played in the Knoxville area, but continuous activity can be traced back to the early-1960's. At that time there were adult teams in the neighboring community of Oak Ridge and at the University of Tennessee. These were, no doubt, the influence of international students at the University, and foreign-born scientists at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. There was also youth soccer at the Boy's Club of Knoxville, organized by the athletic director, but this activity had ceased by the end of the decade. Activity at UT and in Oak Ridge kept soccer alive in the area, but neither contributed significantly to growth of the sport outside of their respective communities. The catalyst for the explosive growth was the advent of the youth program under the American Youth Soccer Organization in 1976-77.
The UT soccer club was started in 1962. The UT Athletic Department provided shorts, jerseys and socks and a playing field for the team, but all other expenses were born by the players. The team played other universities including Vanderbilt, University of Kentucky, University of Florida, University of Georgia, and Georgia State, small colleges including Cumberland College, Tennessee Wesleyan, Temple, Carson Newman, and Tusculum, as well as adult amateur teams including the Rangers and Internationals from Nashville, the Kingsport soccer club and Oak Ridge.
In 1968, the Southeastern Conference Classic was organized and the first tournament was played in Knoxville at Tom Black Track at UT. Trophies were provided by the UT Athletic Department and there was no entry fee. Since there were no soccer referees in Knoxville, officials were brought in from the Chattanooga chapter of the National Intercollegiate Soccer Officials Association. Teams included the University of Alabama, University of Georgia, Georgia State, Florida, Kentucky, Vanderbilt and Cumberland College. In 1969 the SEC Classic was again played in Knoxville.
Early coaches of the UT team were David Gohn and John Pearson. Players who went on to contribute to soccer in the area were Orhan Cingilli, Sidney McGee, and Lynn Rogers.
Soccer activity is reported to have started in Oak Ridge around 1966. A youth soccer program, sponsored by the City of Oak Ridge and the Oak Ridge Boys Club was started in 1974. A soccer team was started at Oak Ridge High School in 1972. While these youth teams played teams from Kingsport and later AYSO teams from Knoxville, and adult teams played the UT team, this program had little influence outside of the Oak Ridge Community.
In the mid-1970's there was a soccer club at Bearden High School, and a team at Webb School of Knoxville was started in 1972 and coached by Dick Paddon.
Emergence of Youth Soccer - 1976
The spark which ignited the growth of soccer in Knoxville was struck by an architect, developing the plans for Farragut High School, being built in west Knox County, when he wrote in a little square on the plans the words "soccer field or general purpose athletic field." This caught the attention of Timothy Maroney who headed up the Community Education Advisory Council, a citizen's group working with the Knox County School Board to develop plans for evening adult education programs. Maroney proposed that the CEAC organize a youth soccer program to use the planned facility. Under the auspices of the CAEC, a youth soccer program affiliated with the American Youth Soccer Organization, and designated AYSO Region 128, was organized. The program was announced in October of 1976, and the first organizational meetings were held in the commons area of Farragut High School on October 28. Registration was open to all boys and girls of ages 7 through 17 years. Activities began on February 5, 1977 in the Farragut HS Gymnasium.
The Saturday morning sessions consisted of films from the old English FA series "Tactics and Teamwork", followed by instruction organized by UT coach John Pearson. The chief referee was Orhan Cingilli and the chief coach was Joe Knight. Registration grew to 273 by the time the season started outdoors at the old FHS football field. There were 18 teams, in the age divisions - Boys: 7-9 years (4 teams), 10-12 years (6 teams), 13-17 years (4 teams) and Girls: 7-12 years (2 teams) and 13-17 years (2 teams). While most of the players were from west Knox county, some came from as far as South Knoxville to play.
Midway through the season, it was necessary to move the remaining games to the old Bearden HS football field, now the site of the Knoxville Adaptive Education Center.
At the end of the 1977 spring season, a picnic was held at Concord Park for all the participants. During the activities, Lynn Rogers passed a pad of paper around soliciting interest in playing on adult soccer teams, and the East Tennessee Summer Soccer League, predecessor to the Knoxville Metro Soccer League, was born.
After the first season, Tim Maroney was appointed an Area Director for AYSO (Area 3T), and Jonas Holdeman was selected to succeed him as Regional Commissioner. The decision was made to separate the soccer program from the Community Education program and operate it independently. Holdeman targeted west Knoxville and west Knox county as areas of growth, and south Knoxville, Powell, the Northwest area and Karns as areas for expansion. John Buraczynski was placed in charge of the expansion in south Knoxville, and John Hofmeister was helpful with recruiting and registration in the Powell area. Extensive recruitment through the winter and early spring resulted in an increase in registration from 270 players in 1977 to 780 in 1978.
While the increase in registration was successful, there were also difficult problems. The start-up costs the first season had exceeded the income and there were debts to be paid but no money. Only thirteen of the adults who managed the program the first season returned, so it was necessary to recruit, train and control a new set of coaches, referees and administrators. The baseball group in west Knox county, sensing competition from soccer, moved the start of their season up and in some cases demanded that a child playing baseball not play soccer. The Cedar Bluff-Farragut Optimist Club which ran the youth football program in west Knox county, denied an active role in the soccer program because of their policy of requiring that coaches be members while excluding women from membership, conspired with the administration at Farragut HS to deny further use of facilities to the soccer program.
With the new growth, a large number of coaches and referees had to be recruited. In some age divisions, every parent, mother and father, was individually solicited to volunteer. Since the preseason training sessions in the FHS gym had been so successful the preceeding winter, this was continued in February and March of 1978, but in the gymnasium at Ball Camp School. Bill McLain from AYSO came to put on a coaching clinic.
Use of the old Bearden HS football field continued, and use of a youth football field at Rocky Hill Park, owned by the city of Knoxville, but operated by a baseball group was granted. Work started on a field owned by developers behind the Concord Baptist Church on Kingston Pike, but this was temporarily abandoned when another site, owned by Roger Moore, was found. This was a nice field, but it was covered by new building construction by the next spring.
A Dogwood Invitational AYSO Soccer Tournament was held in Knoxville April 22 and 23 of 1978. In addition to Knoxville area teams, AYSO teams came from Spartanburg SC and Ft. Lauderdale Florida.
By the spring of 1979, registration had grown to 1200. Several districts were formed to begin local administration of the program. There was significant growth in the Powell area, and this area was split off as the new Region 124 under the leadership of David Cox. Limited expansion to a fall season was started with the initiation of a fall girls program, with the expectation of a full-scale program the following year. The decision to phase in a fall season was based on the limited resources, particularly fields, available. The Knoxville Youth Soccer league was established in the fall as well by Gordon Norman, Stephan Pruitt and Ross Badgett.
By the spring of 1980, registration in what remained of Region 128 had grown to 1800. In July, Region 263 was formed in South Knoxville with Fannanell Hatfield as commissioner, and included the new teams in east Knox County established with the help of Allen Bratten. The new Region 263 began expansion into Sevierville.
Region 275 serving the Karns, Cedar Bluff and Blue Grass communities was split off with about 500 players with Ron McElhaney as commissioner, but they continued to play at the Region 128 fields by the Concord Baptist Church.
Region 279 serving west Knoxville was split off with about 400 players with Donna Kirby as Regional Commissioner. This Region was impacted by the growth of the KYS program and the attempt of a group which wanted to have the YMCA run the program. Parental support was poor, and the motivation seemed to be to avoid some of the responsibility of management by volunteers.
In the Fall of 1980, Regions 128 and 124 initiated their first full scale Fall season with participation about 2/3 of the preceding spring.
In the spring of 1981, the first AYSO "C" Coaching Clinic was held in Knoxville at Northwest Middle School. Instructors Dan Roudebush and Larry Meisner came from California to put on the clinic.
In 1982, an AYSO tournament was held in Knoxville in connection with the World's Fair. Youth teams came from England and Germany.
Knoxville Metro Soccer League
At the AYSO picnic at the end of the first season in 1977, Lynn Rogers circulated a pad of paper, soliciting interest in adult play that summer. Lynn had previously attempted to start an adult league in 1975 but had little lasting success. The success of the AYSO program inspired a renewed effort. There were further notices in the Knoxville newspaper soliciting interest, and finally the East Tennessee Summer Soccer League was formed. Most of the teams were from the Knoxville area; the Shots (mostly associated with Webb School), Strikers, Kicks, a team from Oak Ridge, a team from Kingsport and the Bristol Lions. Inclusion of the latter two involved a two or three hour drive to play. There was also some difficulty with some members of the team from Kingsport, so in the summer of 1978, the Knoxville Metro Soccer League was formed.
The Strikers team disappeared and was replaced by two new teams, the Millionaires and the Cavaliers. The Kicks and Cavaliers lasted for many years, while the Millionaires changed their name to the Knoxville City Soccer Club which is still active today.
Knoxville Women's Soccer League
Inspiration for women's soccer in Knoxville arose from the Dogwood Invitational AYSO Soccer Tournament held in Knoxville April 22 and 23 of 1978. A number of teams came from AYSO Region 132 in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Commissioner of the Region was Steve Karinshak, who was to become national president of AYSO in 1990. In the stands during the games, Barbara Karinshak told of the AYSO mothers in Spartanburg who had organized teams and started playing.
Later in the Spring, Judy Holdeman and Pat Taylor organized a group of women, mostly mothers of AYSO players. At the end of the AYSO season, training, practice and games started. There were two teams. The atmosphere was very friendly and informal. If one would fall down, play would stop immediately and someone would exclaim "My dear, are you hurt?" Then someone would help her up and play would continue. This attitude did not last beyond the next season.
Tennessee Valley Soccer Referee Association
In the summer of 1978? a small group met at the home of Ray Snow to study the Laws of the Game to prepare for examinations for referee licensing by the United States Soccer Federation. The study was led by Lynn Rogers. In the Fall, Miklos Bus came from Kingsport and administered the written and physical examinations. The examinations were held at the UT Aquatic Center and Tom Black Track. While this was a great step forward at the time, there was little required in the way of experience. Nevertheless, these referees were conscientious and worked hard the next few years to improve their skills. This was the first time that Knoxville had licensed soccer referees.
In the winter of 1978-79, Ray Snow, Jeff Kovac, Doug Price, Orhan Cingilli and Jonas Holdeman met to organize a referee association to be called the Tennessee Valley Soccer Referees' Association. The purposes of the organization included: "To provide for, encourage and stimulate high quality refereeing in the Knoxville area; ..." A constitution and bylaws were written and adopted.
High School Soccer, 1978 to 1990
From its inauguration in 1977, teams of players of high school age were an important component of the activity. The first season, boys came mostly from Farragut, Webb and Bearden High Schools. A group of boys had established a soccer club at Bearden HS. During preparation for the Spring 1978 season, rumors cropped up that one of the boys who had moved from Bearden and who was attending another high school had started a soccer club there. After several weeks of search, this team was discovered at Carter High School on the eastern edge of Knox County, and invited to play with AYSO.
Near the end of the summer, Tim Maroney proposed the establishment of a high school soccer league. Maroney, Sidney McGee, Dick Paddon, Don Tarvin (athletic director at Webb HS) and Jonas Holdeman met several times at Maroney's home before establishing a league called the Knoxville Interscholastic Soccer League. The League played its first games in the fall of 1978. Teams included Carter High School coached by Sidney McGee, Bearden High School initially coached by Tim Maroney but succeeded by Frank Daniel, Webb High School coached by Alex Domkowski, Farragut High School coached by Jonas Holdeman, Clinton HS coached by Eddie Brewer and Harrison-Chilhowee Academy coached by Ken Fraizer. Farragut HS played one game with Oak Ridge HS coached by Dennis Rush. The teams had varying support from the schools. Soccer had been a varsity sport at Webb, Oak Ridge and Harrison-Chilhowee, was accepted by the principal at Carter, and was a club at Bearden HS. The principal at Farragut HS, James Bellamy, supported by the football coach Ken Sparks, repeatedly denied all requests and petitions for recognition of a soccer club. It was only after great persistence that the soccer team was accepted as a club (like the math club or any other club) at Farragut, and thus, in a sense, represented the school.
Soccer was not recognized as a school sport by the Tennessee Secondary Schools Athletic Association at this time, and it was to be over ten years before it was accepted. There were, however, two statewide leagues organized and supported by an organization called the Tennessee Secondary Soccer Coaches Association. The TSSCA was a member of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America, and the coaches of all member schools were members of the NSCAA. It is reported that the TSSCA was started by private schools and grew to include public schools. The Dixie League included Tennessee and part of Alabama. Play in the Dixie League began in September. The Volunteer League began at the end of November, after the High School Football season, and was popular with some of the smaller schools which did not have enough athletes to simultaneously field football and soccer teams. Some years later, after several severe winters, the Volunteer League switched to the Spring.
The Farragut HS team became a member of the Dixie Conference in 1978, and three players played in the East-West High School All Star match at Baird-Ward Field in Nashville on February 24, 1979. In May, 1979 representatives of the KISL petitioned the TSSCA to make the KISL a conference within the Dixie League.
The Oak Ridge High School soccer team was started in 1972, coached by Charles Giles, and became a member of the Dixie conference in 1974 when Dennis Rush became coach. Prior to the establishment of the KISL, ORHS played Webb several times in a season and traveled to Nashville, Chattanooga, and Ashville NC for other games. After the first year of KISL, ORHS began games with other area schools.
The KISL merged into the Dixie League and other area teams entered the League. In 1979, Harrison-Chilhowee dropped out, and Powell HS and Dobyns-Bennett HS of Kingsport joined the League. In 1980, Catholic HS and TMI Academy were added to the schedule. Through the early 1980's, FHS and ORHS became annual contenders for the Dixie Conference State Championship.
As high school participation in the area grew, the teams were, for the most part, coached by coaches who were not associated with the school system. The adoption of soccer as a sanctioned sport by the TSSAA was proposed and rejected a number of times before it was finally adopted for the 1987 season. The TSSAA designated Spring as the soccer season for boys (and Fall for girls' soccer) so as not to interfere with football. Also it was required that coaches be full time employees of the school. Most public schools in the area were not prepared for this, so some teams ceased to play and the level of play decreased as teams were coached by inexperienced faculty. The situation is improving as coaches gain experience and new faculty having soccer experience is hired.