From Fetzer To Finley: Coming Full Circle

From Fetzer To Finley: Coming Full Circle
By Dave Lohse, Associate Athletic Communications Director

At the end of the classic movie It's A Wonderful Life, George Bailey, flat broke, finds out he is the richest man in town when his friends bail him out of financial disaster. It's a tearjerker ending for sure.

Having worked in the UNC sports information office for 41 years, I've always felt like the richest man in town – in friendships and in memories – that's the life of an SID.

I was reminded about that on Sunday evening around 6 p.m. as the Tar Heel women's soccer team finished off a 2-0 victory over the Ohio State Buckeyes. In the process, the Carolina women rewarded head coach Anson Dorrance with his 1,000^th career collegiate coaching victory, including 172 wins as the men's head coach from 1977-88 and now 828 victories as the women's head coach since he founded the women's program in 1979.

I'll admit I teared up a little.

Sunday, I was tasked as usual with being the host sports information director for the OSU-Tar Heel battle as Anson won his 1,000^th game. It brought back a lot of memories.

On September 10, 1977, Dorrance coached his first-ever game as the UNC men's head coach. Rick Brewer, then the UNC sports information director, was in Lexington, Ky., that day for the Carolina-Kentucky football game. I was in my first year of graduate school at Carolina and also working part-time in the sports information office to help make ends meet. Rick had no full-time assistant at the time so that day I assumed duties as the host sports information director for the UNC versus Western Carolina men's soccer match. Fetzer Field was even more rustic back then than we can possibly imagine – even for those who saw it aging badly the past two decades- and at the end of the day the Tar Heels prevailed over the Catamounts 3-0.

Just as I had at Purdue University as an undergraduate sports information student assistant, I proudly typed out my post-game story and sent it on the telecopier to the local media outlets. This was long before we even had fax machines, much less email.

Little did I know as I headed home from Carmichael Auditorium that afternoon what the last 41 years had in store for me. I had just had my first of many brushes with the greatness of the career of Anson Dorrance. I could not be more honored to work with this man all these years later. But to be around for 1,000 wins worth is nothing short of heaven.

Two years after he started coaching the men, Anson took on duties as the women's head coach in 1979, starting one of the very first varsity programs in the American South. In the third year, Carolina captured the first of its 22 national championships in women's soccer, an event the University hosted at Kenan Stadium.

From 1979-88, for 10 seasons, Anson coached the men's and women's programs simultaneously and believe it or not he added duties as the U.S. Women's National Team head coach in the second year of its existence in 1986. His impact on the women's game has been intensely profound. It's included the success of his Carolina teams certainly. But he toiled as the women's national team head coach for eight years and in 1991 he coached the U.S. Team to the first ever women's World Cup title in China, beating Norway 2-1 in the final. Nine Tar Heel players were members of that team. All told, fifty-seven Tar Heels have earned caps with the U.S. National Team.

What has always impressed me the most about this remarkable man is that he is first and foremost a Renaissance Man. Surely, he is a brilliant soccer mind and a tremendous leader of both men and women. But the best conversations I've ever had with the man were about history, politics, theatre, art, dance and current events. I live for those talks. Once you get to know him you can readily understand why he majored in philosophy at Carolina. He married a beautiful woman, M'Liss, whose career spanned generations in dance and ballet. His oldest daughter is an accomplished dancer and McArthur Grant recipient. His second daughter is an educator. His son has spent much of his adult life working in the arts and music.

Despite outdated facilities, Dorrance has always kept the Tar Heel women's soccer program at the top of its game even with more parity in the game than ever. That will change next year when Carolina moves into the new Soccer & Lacrosse Stadium on the site of the old Fetzer Field. In the meantime, a senior-led 2018 team has the potential to be something very special if it stays injury free. After a year of playing home games off campus, the Tar Heels are back on campus for 2018, playing in a cozy atmosphere at Finley Fields South where UNC practices. Come out and watch the Tar Heels when you get a chance – there are two home games in the coming week in fact.

So, Anson, thanks for allowing me to come along for the ride, and living a sports information director's dream for 41 years worth of great men's and women's soccer memories. It's pretty heady stuff for someone who had never watched a soccer game live until the first game of your career against Western Carolina. I doubt either one of us knew on September 10, 1977 that it would all amount to this all these many years later. I'm certainly glad it did. Color me honored. Color me grateful. Let's hang on for a thousand more.

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