Green White HOFers

Eckhartz Everyday

 *On this day in 2016, Bobby Skafish made an appearance in Des Plaines at the Green White Soccer club. Photos from that day are here.

*Today is Grant DePorter's birthday. Grant is the owner of Harry Caray's restaurant, and provided a chapter for the Eckhartz Press book Cubsessions.

*On this day in 2016, Eckhartz Press author Mark Gelinas (GelStrong) appeared on WSB-TV in Atlanta to talk about his diagnosis...

Green White Schlachtfest

What were you doing on Saturday night? I was the MC of a soccer banquet.

Green White staged our annual Schlachtfest on Saturday night (February 28th), and a great time was had by one and all. The Johnny Wagner band provided the music, and the club provided the festival of meat--including the famous Zimmer Hungarian sausages. A big crowd (over 300) showed up for the event, including our many longtime members, plus a large contigent of players from the first team, over 30s and over 40 teams, and quite a few members from our youth division.

We gave out a number of awards, including the First Team MVP (Monroe Bell Jr.) and the over-40 MVP (Barnacus Hernandez), and a we recognized club senior VP Jon Duddles for his dedication and service to the club. Jon is the man who runs our Steve Zimmer Memorial Tournament every summer.

It's also become a Schlachtfest tradition to crown Miss Green White, and Miss Green White 2015 is Elayna Mork (granddaughter of longtime member Fritz Spiess). Elayna gave an eloquent speech about what the club means to her and her family.

I used to dread doing these events--I'm not a big fan of speaking in public (despite my radio background) But as I'm getting older, I enjoy it more and more. And I enjoy seeing old friends and eating some incredibly delicious German food.

Thanks Green White for asking me

Green White

One of my ongoing writing projects is chronicling the history of Green White Soccer Club; a club co-founded by my father Eckhard. The project will culminate at the end of 2015 with a book that celebrates all 60 years.

Today's post goes back to the 40th anniversary in 1996.

Green White History

One of my on-going writing projects is chronicling the history of Green White Soccer Club, a club co-founded by my father in the 1950s. Every month I post something about a year or era.

The early-to-mid 1990s in Green White history has now been posted, and features former team members recalling a major championship, the most famous person to ever play on the Green White fields, and a visit from members of the U.S. Men's National Team.

Green White

One of my on-going writing projects is the history of Green White, a soccer club co-founded by my father in the 50s. This month I cover the early 90s. Read it here.

By the way, this weekend we're having our annual tournament at Metro Majewski park. Come on out, have some delicious Hungarian sausages (we made them ourselves last night), and watch some soccer.

Green White on the Front Page

So thrilled to see this yesterday. Green White was on the front page of the Daily Herald, with a very positive article about our club, our history and our future! It's also on the Daily Herald website, but subcription necessary.Thanks to Daily Herald writer Matt Arado, and Green White members Rudi Mayer, and Steve Samuelson for contributing. My dad (one of the club co-founders) would have been so excited!

Check it out here.

Green White

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One of my on-going writing projects is writing the history of Green White Soccer Club, a club co-founded by my dad in the 1950s.

Each month I write about one year in club history. This month, it's 1989.

You can read it here.

Green White Soccer Club

One of my on-going writing projects is writing the history of Green White Soccer Club, a club co-founded by my dad. 1988 in Green White history has been posted and features an interview with perhaps the greatest player in Green White history--Rudi Mayer--who retired after the 1988 season.

Read all about the soccer career of the 3-time player of the year, collegiate National Champion (at Michigan State), 1972 U.S. Olympic team member, and professional soccer player (with the Chicago Sting), and how much Green White soccer club has meant to him.

It's at this link.

Green White

One of my on-going writing projects is writing about the history of Green White Soccer Club, a club co-founded by my father in 1956. Every month I write about one month in Green White history. This month it's 1987.

You can read it here.

Green White

One of my on-going writing projects is chronicling the history of Green White Soccer Club, a club co-founded by my father in 1956. Each month I write about one year in Green White history. This month, I write about the club's 30th anniversary...in 1986.

You can read it here.

Green White

One of my ongoing writing projects is chronicling the history of Green White Soccer Club, a club co-founded by my father in 1956. Every month I write about one year in Green White history. This month, it's 1985.

You can read about it here.

Green White

One of my on-going writing projects is writing the history of Green White Soccer Club, a club co-founded by my father in 1956. Every month I write about one year in Green White history. This month, it's 1984.

You can read it here.

The Third Generation

This was a big moment for my family. My brother and I never played on the same soccer team because of our age difference (I'm seven years older than he is), but this weekend our sons played together for Green White at Soccer City. It's probably a once-in-a-lifetime moment because my brother and his family live in Detroit, so his son can't play for us regularly. But it sure was fun to see them play together. My son played offense, and my Godson played defense.

Green White won the game, by the way, 3-2.

Green White History

One of my on-going writing projects is chronicling the history of Green White Soccer Club, a club co-founded by my dad in 1956. Each month I write about one year in GW history. This month it's 1982, the year the club officially moved from Chicago to Mt. Prospect.

You can read it here.

Green White Soccer Club

One of my on-going writing projects is chronicling the history of Green White Soccer Club, a club co-founded by my dad in 1956. Every month I write about another year in club history. This month it's 1981--the year I graduated high school. (I played for Green White that year too).

You can read it here.

Green White History

One of my on-going writing projects is chronicling the history of Green White Soccer Club, a club co-founded by my father in 1956. Every month I write about one year in Green White history. This month it's 1980.

You can read it here.

Green White

One of my on-going writing projects is chronicling the history of Green White Soccer Club, a club co-founded by my father in 1956. Each month I write about another year in Green White history.

This month it's 1979.

FC Bayern Youth Cup

This is the reason I've been so difficult to reach over the past week or two: The FC Bayern Youth Cup at Green White

It was a great experience, a difficult challenge, and a ton of work, but it was also a huge success.

I need a vacation.

Greetings from FC Bayern

I got this photo e-mailed to me from Bayern Munich. It's recovering Bayern Munich player (and German National Team player) Bastian Schweinsteiger wishing us well in the FC Bayern Cup taking place at the Green White Soccer fields in Mt. Prospect/Des Plaines this weekend. In case you don't know, Schweinsteiger is one of the biggest soccer stars in the world, and FC Bayern just won the European Champions League.

Then, this morning, FC Bayern posted the same picture on their facebook page and advertised the event to their facebook audience of 7,000,000+ along with a special e-mail address created strictly for our event...my e-mail address. I'll be dealing with an exploding e-mail box the rest of the week, but it's nice to see that some people in this country recognize the significance of this.