For anyone who played indoor soccer regularly at the Odeum, you probably got to know Tony Dallas, who passed away this past April. A former pro player for the Chicago Horizons, he was the GM of the place. He even played on some of the teams, include the National Soccer League's Stare Byki F.C. The Odeum held a memorial service for him last night (9/20/20/17) and renamed the south field for him. Many came to memorialize Dallas and Stare Byki president George Gorecki relays this story told by former Sting player and coach Willy Roy: Willy said that he had a dream that he had died and gone to heaven, where he ran into Tony. It just so happened that Tony was putting together a team for a match up in heaven. In the dream, Willy asks Tony, "Who are we playing against?" Tony replies, "The devil's team." When Willy gets more info about the opponent, he tells Tony, "We can't play this game. There is no way we can win." Tony asks, "Why not? We have some of the greatest players in history on our team." Willy says, "The devil's team is all referees." https://www.nslchicago.org/2017/04/04/tony-dallas-rip/ http://www.chicagotribune.com/chi-u...dallas-calls-odeum-home-2013-03-25-story.html http://nasljerseys.com/MISL/Players/D/Dallas.Tony.htm
Thanks for posting this, wish I'd known about the memorial service. Tony was a great guy, gone way too soon. Last saw him at the big reunion Peter Wilt put together when the Riot played their one season at the Odeum. Brought back so many great memories, I miss those days. Tony will be greatly missed by a large part of the soccer community.