University of North Carolina Athletics
Number One Fan: Sean McGinty's Story
November 20, 2002 | Men's Soccer
Nov. 20, 2002
By Scott Warfield
Ronald Reagan was president. The Mets defeated the Boston Red Sox in seven games to win a World Championship. Bill Cosby had the number one show on television and Paul Simon had the album of the year with Graceland. The year was 1986 and a streak was about to begin.
"My dad has never missed one of my soccer games since I started playing in Spartanburg, S.C. at the age of four," UNC Men's soccer player, Sean McGinty said. "Whether I was starting or subbing in, whether I was healthy or hurt, I always knew my dad was going to be at my game."
Charles Sean McGinty is a twenty year-old junior forward from Charlotte, N.C. He is about 5 foot nine inches short and weighs a generous buck-seventy. McGinty walks from place to place with his hands in his bulky pant pockets, his head in the air and a strange smirk on his freckled face that seems to give people the sense of confidence that sometimes is confused with cockiness. And if it was cockiness, it would be well deserved.
McGinty has been a forward for the U.S. National and Regional teams since 1997, was the 1998-1999 U.S. National U-17 player of the year, a two-time NSCAA High School All-American and the Charlotte Observer's Player-of-the-Year in 1998 and 1999. But "Mr. Soccer," as the Observer called him, does not concern himself with these awards.
"My dad has always told me that you do not play the game for praise and rewards," McGinty said. "You play the game because you love it."
McGinty acquired his love for the game, along with many other traits, from his father, who was an All-America soccer player at Erskine College.
"My dad had me try all the major sports when I was young," he said. "He didn't push me into soccer, but he definitely introduced me, and the rest was history.
"Soccer has taken me all over the world. I've experienced more in my twenty years of life than most people do in 100," McGinty said, and he knows how lucky he is to have this God-given ability to kick the soccer ball.
"Everyday I wake up and wonder where I would be without this great game. And then I thank God that I have it."
He thanks God for his father as well. "What he has done for my family and me, outside of soccer, is the most admirable thing I could ever think of," McGinty said. "If I end up being half the father my dad has been to my sister and me, I will be pleased with my life."
McGinty recalled a story from his early teen years that he said characterized the type of person his father is and the type of person he aims to become. In his mid-forties, Charles McGinty's business collapsed.
"My dad was out of work and our family was struggling," McGinty said. "My dad knew that my mom's teaching salary was not going to be able to support the family."
The truth is, Sean revealed, is that the McGinty's could have gotten by okay. They would not have had an empty dinner table and would not have been forced to wear toeless shoes. But Charlie McGinty prided himself in providing the best possible life for his family.
"He didn't want our style of life to change," Sean said. "So he went out there and dug ditches for 12 hours a day, with a sore back and calluses all over his hands, just so his family's life would not be altered."
It is this kind of love and devotion that Sean exhibits on an everyday basis. Longtime friend, Todd Alexander, said Sean treats everyone and everything with a strong passion that he feels was instilled by Mr. McGinty.
"Sean is often misunderstood," Alexander said. "But the people that know him best know that he would do anything for the ones he loves. He is as loyal as they come."
A classic demonstration of this loyalty: in a home game a week ago against Wake Forest, fellow teammate and best friend, Grant Porter, got mixed up with a Wake player in the second half of the game. Porter was struck in the mid-section on what appeared to be a cheap shot.
McGinty charged the Wake Forest player and threw him to the ground, attempting to protect his teammate and his friend. Sean was given a yellow card and was booed by many Wake spectators for what they felt was a dirty play. Sean said he immediately looked to the crowd to see the reaction of his father.
"He just kind of nodded at me as to say, 'That a boy,'" Sean said with a smile on his face. "My dad is proudest of me not when I win awards or championships, but when I stand up for myself and for my friends."
Always having that someone in the crowd for support and encouragement is something McGinty cherishes. "I can look up and know, no matter what happens, I always have at least one fan," he said.
Sean looks forward to being that one big fan for his son one day. When asked where he would be in ten years, he thought a minute and replied from what seemed to be from the deepest part of his soul. "I want a life like my dad's: a normal life with a great wife and kids I love."
And the streak continues...
