Andy Scores! Vol 2 - Part 1/3: Welcome to Wichita
Andy Chapman joins a second British invasion of the heartland.
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After spending the first part of his American soccer career in sunny southern California, Andy Chapman signed with the Wichita Wings of the Major Indoor Soccer League at the very end of 1979. His first impression of Wichita: it was definitely not California. But over the next few years, he would make it his home and grow to love it. When we last left off, Andy had just been picked up from the airport by Wings staff member Jackie Knapp and was whisked off to a Christmas party. And now, Andy Chapman, in his own words:
Jackie Knapp [Wings staff member] actually took me to a Christmas party, and I met Kevin Kewley, and he was just fantastic. Obviously, there was an English connection there. I was only 19, and they were all a little bit older than that. Kevin was probably about 24 at the time. So, he made me feel really welcome, and so did Jimmy Ryan. Jimmy was just fantastic...an older pro I’d heard of—who started off at Manchester United and played at Luton. The guys were great, and I felt comfortable. I stayed in an apartment, and I was there for a tryout. I worked all week, and we trained the day after Christmas. The boys had taken a liking to me; I was a hard worker and wanted to impress. Basically, I was waiting to hear if they were going to sign me.
I can remember a sort of defining moment in my life… [on whether I was] making the right decision to leave my family and come to America. Because it was the days before all the technology that we have today. I can remember being in an apartment in Wichita on New Year’s Eve, and it was probably around 11:30 pm, and there was no electricity because the previous tenant, Mike Ivanow, somehow hadn't paid the bill. So, there was no electricity, and I’m laying on the couch in this furnished apartment. Ivanow had gone back to San Francisco, so I was just on my own, going from the 1970s to the 1980s, and was feeling a little bit sorry for myself...missing all my friends I had grown up with...and my family. I was lying there, and suddenly I said, “Hey, stop feeling sorry for yourself, here! There are so many people in the world who would like to change positions with you right now.”
I just woke up and it was the first day of the ‘80s, and I’ve got to say that the 1980s was probably the greatest decade that ever existed. Because from that moment, they signed me the next day, I played in my first game in Detroit against the Detroit Lightning. It just started a journey I could never dreamed of how big it was going to get. I’ll never forget that first season. I was very young and I had done quite well and the fans had taken to me. At the end of that season, I went to Cleveland to play outdoor, and I was delighted when Roy and Bill Kentling said, ‘We’d like to sign you again for the 1980-81 season.’
At that time, it felt comfortable being around players, and Roy was a coach, so I was respectful, and he was like one of the guys. He’d been a player in Dallas and had been a part of a whole brigade of English and Scottish players that came in 1968 to start the soccer boom in America, just prior to Pele coming. There was a lot of respect there from me. And because of the age I was, I was respectful of older people. Back then (it’s different now) we were all like a family, and he was like the dad. Wichita had become my home and the team had become my purpose.
...Kim [Roentved] and myself could relate to each other because we were the same age. There’s a spot in my heart for Kim. There’s a spot in my heart for Kevin and Roy. There truly is. Playing for Wichita was all I ever wanted to do. Being with all the players, the characters, Norman Piper, Jimmy Ryan, the Danish Connection [Jorgen Kristensen, Kim Roentved, etc.]...we would hang out together. We’d go training, you’d have the games, and then we’d hit the bars afterwards and there would always be a party. Roy was there with the guys...it’s just how it was back then. Nowadays, with the technology [we have], [somebody] would take a photograph of a player in a bar that’s had a few drinks and having a sing-song and it would be all over the internet with people saying, “Look how unprofessional they are!”
We were very professional on the field, but we used to like to let loose after the games. You have to understand, it was a unique situation because you are dealing with the early ‘80s, with a bunch of foreign players who were trying to promote the game of soccer. I truly and firmly believed that the indoor game was going to be the next big sport for sure. We were always a part of promoting the game and trying to spread the word.
I did literally hundreds upon hundreds of appearances. Over the course of two years, I think I did 100 school assemblies. We were always doing appearances and meeting with the fans...things they are actually doing now back in England in the Premier League...just a copy of what was going on in the American soccer scene in the early 1980s. They’ve got a great product over there now, but a lot of the ideas they stole from the indoor game way back.
Part of that job of promoting the team was that there was an after-match party where all the fans and boosters wanted to touch the players and get autographs. I can remember being in the Barn [the Kansas Coliseum] and 7,000 people wanted autographs one night after the game. We had to stop it at midnight. We always had a great following. The time was just right. Wichita had never had a [major league] professional sports team to sink their teeth into. We got to know the fans by name. They got to know about your personal life, your family; it was just fantastic.
I never played [indoor] before. There was a game in England that was very popular called Five-a-Side. It was played on a small field, and I had always played [that], obviously without the boards. I had always been strong at it, so I felt very, very comfortable [indoors]. From a career standpoint, I had gone to play outdoor and scored 12 goals in 1978 in 23 games, which is a very good ratio. In 1979, I scored another 12 goals. When I did that transition, and I did it for six seasons, the calendar year was me going from outdoor straight into indoor, straight into outdoor, etc... It really sharpened me up for the outdoor game because it just seemed like I had acres of space. In indoor, space is at a premium, and you have to be a good player with great vision and anticipation to be a goal-scorer.
I really worked on my craft. I would stay behind at practice—first one there, last to leave. For a couple reasons: so I could get better as a player, and I had nothing else to do. Being a soccer player was my life. Why go home and sit on the couch and watch TV? I’d actually go workout in the afternoon. It was about becoming the best I could possibly be. I was in the zone. Also, I had a reputation as a single guy who liked to go out at night. I just wanted to make sure no one was saying, "Look, Andy is lazy because he’s too busy being a party boy.” So, it was to compensate. I was enjoying life as a 21 year old outside the game, but I never stopped thinking about [soccer].
[Stay tuned for Part 2/2 of Volume 2 next week!]