Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 17, 1995 TAG: 9502170043
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
A group of six Roanoke Valley investors hope that Thursday's introduction of the newest semipro team in the professional United Systems of Independent Soccer Leagues is only the beginning of the thrills.
``The addition of the RiverDawgs is going to take Roanoke soccer to the next level,'' team founder and general manager Doug Fonder told a crowded news conference at Corned Beef & Company in downtown Roanoke.
The RiverDawgs open their first season April 29 in Myrtle Beach, S.C., and will play their first home game at the Cave Spring Junior High School football field 7:30 p.m. May 6.
The 21-game regular season runs through July 30 and the playoffs begin in August. Season tickets will cost $35 for 10 home games and individual tickets will be $6 for adults and $4 for students through college age.
``This is going to be family-oriented and attractively priced,'' Fonder said.
The promotional drums already have started beating.
``Some people will be seeing something they've never seen before in soccer and that's excitement,'' predicted coach Sam Okpodu, also introduced Thursday.
The team's initial budget projects expenses of $110,870 and income of $112,000. Of the first-year revenues, $35,000 will be coming from a minimum of seven investors, six of whom already have signed on.
In addition to Fonder, the operator of Roanoke sports marketing firm Sports Design, Inc., the investors include Tom Wallace, owner of the Domino's Pizza stores in the Roanoke Valley; Roanoke businesspeople Eddie and Cathy Spradlin; Frank Hughes, the team's marketing and sales director; Danny Beamer, executive director of Roanoke Valley Youth Soccer, Inc.; and Phil Benne, women's soccer coach at Roanoke College and the RiverDawgs' player personnel director.
Fonder said he is also negotiating with another investor.
Okpodu is the Virginia Tech women's soccer coach and was a three-time All America player at North Carolina State in the early 1980s. A native of Warri, Nigeria, he is the Atlantic Coast Conference's all-time leading scorer.
``We ought to hold a contest this year to see how many different ways my name is going to be spelled,'' he said. ``Just call me Sam.''
Bene announced that Roanoke already had signed five players and was negotiating with other college and professional players.
Among those already on the roster, three grew up in Roanoke and a fourth, defender Darryl Springer, played collegiately at Radford. Players include defender Lang Wedemeyer, midfielder Grayson Prillaman, midfielder Dustin Fonder and forward Brent Bennett.
Wedemeyer, who was All-Timesland at Patrick Henry High, also played at Old Dominion University and Virginia Tech. He played the 1994 season with the Richmond Kickers of the United States Indoor Soccer League.
Fonder, Doug Fonder's son, was the Division III player of the year at Roanoke College last year and an All-Timesland selection at North Cross. He played for the Canton Invaders and the indoor Hampton Roads Hurricane.
Prillaman was a Division III All-American at Roanoke College and played with the Washington Mustangs of the USISL. Prillaman was All-Timesland at North Cross.
Springer is a member of the Trinidad National team. Bennett was an All-American at James Madison University.
``Before, the best players have been leaving the Roanoke Valley,'' Doug Fonder said. ``We want to bring some of those players back and keep the others here.''
The RiverDawgs will be working closely with local youth soccer, Fonder added. The team has contracted to conduct youth camps in Roanoke, Franklin and Botetourt counties, and the cities of Roanoke, Salem and Lynchburg. Three under-19 developmental players will be included on the RiverDawgs roster.
The developmental players aren't the only interesting innovations of the USISL.
``We flaunt tradition, so to speak,'' said league commissioner Francisco Marcos, who was on hand for the press conference. ``We are going to be a guinea pig league.''
Among the wrinkles will be a no-tie rule. All overtime games will be settled by shootouts or sudden-death playoff. Other experiments involve stopping the clock and lengthening free kicks from 10 to 15 yards.
Also present for Thursday's press conference were Roanoke City Councilman John Edwards and Fuzzy Minnix of the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors. Mark Collins, the national promotional director for the Mitre Corporation, which will be outfitting the team and provides the official ball of the league, was also on hand.
Marcos said he founded the league in 1986 in response to the tremendous grassroots growth of soccer in the United States.
``One-fourth of America is involved either directly or indirectly in soccer today,'' he said. ``That is not a cult.''
Marcos said that he had first become familiar with this part of Virginia more than 20 years ago when he was playing for Hartwick (N.Y.) College. In those days, Hartwick occasionally met Lynchburg College, then the dominant soccer power in this area, in the playoffs.
``If somebody had mentioned then that Roanoke would have professional soccer, they would have been checked into the nearest institution, '' he said.
by CNB