Soccer People Doing It Right – Helping Those In Need
UPDATED: The unprecedented Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic has impacted sports worldwide and has left many people fearful of what is next. Inspired by the desire to help others, the goal of the ‘Legends of Indoor Soccer’ is a force for positive change — it is a fundraiser to help feed the hungry people in America and to support the free youth soccer programs at America Scores.
The Legends of Indoor Soccer is a two-day special virtual session on May 5th and 6th celebrating the greats of the indoor soccer game.
Landon Donovan, Shep Messing, Doc Lawson, Sean Bowers, Otto Orf the this season’s MASL Goalkeeper of the Year Chris Toth and MASL Defender of the Year Drew Ruggles will join an all-star line up of club owners, coaches, referees and league people for Legends of Indoor Soccer.
- Day 1 – Legends of Indoor Soccer
- Day 2 – Legends of Indoor Soccer
- Please give generously at Legends of Indoor Soccer – CLICK HERE For Donation Page
Honoring both those who played in the MISL and carry on in the Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) which represents the highest level of professional arena soccer in the world, this Zoom session will thrill fans of all ages.
Led by the legendary coach Keith Tozer and joined by the iconic play-by-play announcer of soccer, JP Dellacamera, this session celebrates the great players, coaches, referees, and owners of the indoor game and raises money to help those who need it most.
Legends of Indoor Soccer – CLICK HERE For Donation Page
All donations raised by Legends of Indoor Soccer will be equally split between America Scores and Feeding America.
Feeding America – The proceeds go to feeding the hungry people in the USA. 37 million people face hunger in the U.S. today — including more than 11 million children.
America SCORES – 100% of proceeds go to support America SCORES free soccer programs for low-income youth across the country.
The Man With The Vision: Who is Keith Tozer?
With an astonishing 750-382 record, Keith Tozer is the most successful indoor soccer coach in America.
Head coach of the Milwaukee Wave for 26 years, Tozer, set the bar for excellence in the sport and led his team to win championship titles in 1998, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2011 and 2012.
Awarded many honors including MISL Coach of the Year, Tozer is committed to developing the next generation of players.
Inducted into the USL Hall of Fame Class of 2011, and the MISL Hall of Fame in 2017, Tozer is a living icon of indoor soccer.
Tozer was also the longtime former head coach of our country’s U.S. Futsal National Team. Now, the Technical Director for US Youth Futsal, the Commissioner of the PFL (Professional Futsal League) as well as a FIFA and CONCACAF Futsal Instructor, Tozer — never one to be bored — launched the highly successful podcast series, the World of Futsal two years ago.
Tozer, joined by co-host JP Dellacamera, famed play-by-play broadcaster and others who made a mark in the history of the game, the Legends of Indoor Soccer brings the past MISL legends and present MASL stars together — with the goal of helping those less fortunate.
The MASL is proud to get behind the Legends of Indoor Soccer’s drive to raise money for these important causes and celebration of the indoor game.
Joshua Schaub MASL Commissioner
Interview with Keith Tozer on the Legends of Indoor Soccer
Diane Scavuzzo: What inspired you to do this?
Keith Tozer: I was watching the news last week and saw a story of thousands of Americans sitting in their cars waiting to get food — and, it just struck me that with all that we have in this country, we still have so many people that are less fortunate.
I wanted in some small way to help out. Let’s work together to feed America.
While talking to Zolton Toth, the all-time great goalkeeper of Indoor soccer, we came up with this idea to bring all of the legends of the indoor game together, combine these great players of the past with the current stars and try to raise some money to help feed Americans — and, while we are at it, raise money for America’s SCORES, a great organization that created the Soccer Coaches Summit.
Please give generously at Legends of Indoor Soccer -CLICK GERE For Donation Page
We want people to donate — working together we can make a difference. Please donate, donate and donate.
Diane Scavuzzo: Who is your co-host for the Legends of Indoor Soccer?
Keith Tozer: U.S. National Soccer Hall of Famer JP Dellacamera has been a major broadcasting voice covering the U.S. Men and Women’s National Team as well as MLS for more than twenty years.
JP started in indoor soccer with the Pittsburgh Spirit and in the 1980s, was the play-by-play announcer for the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL).
Today, one of the most revered broadcasters in the sport, Dellacamera has covered a combined 15 FIFA World Cups and has worked with Aly Wagner on FOX Sports covering many international friendlies. In addition, his coverage of the play-by-play action of the Philadelphia Union is a fan-favorite.
He is a great friend who was eager to help out — as we all are!
JP the legend!
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) October 14, 2018
Congratulations to our very own JP Dellacamera on his induction to the National Soccer Hall of Fame next weekend. 👏👏👏 pic.twitter.com/ncTWbRvZID
Diane Scavuzzo: When you talk about the glory days of Indoor soccer, you always make it sound grand. Was indoor soccer more popular back then than it is now?
Keith Tozer: Back in the early 80s, Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) was actually drawing more people than the NBA. Can you imagine that today?
There was no MLS at that time — all the best American players in played indoor soccer.
Today, college soccer programs, as well as the MLS, USL, and even the NBA, NFL, and NHL all have former indoor players working in their front offices. In fact, indoor soccer has been an incredible training ground for even corporate America.
The major indoor soccer league played a huge part in the national landscape of soccer at a time when there was no outdoor.
So many soccer fans were energized by the indoor game and it kept players and coaches employed.
Diane Scavuzzo: Who will be on Legends of Indoor Soccer?
Keith Tozer: Legends of Indoor Soccer spans the spectrum of the sport. We will kick off with Hall of Famer Zoltan Toth and his son Chris Toth who is a third-generation goalkeeper — the goalie for Ontario Fury, he was just named by the Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) Goalkeeper of the Year.
Among our other guests are Phil Salvagio owner of the San Diego Sockers, Miguel Luna co-owner of Califino, Ed Tepper the first Commissioner of the MISL as well as the current Commissioner of the MASL Joshua Schaub, a few of the first coaches of indoor; John Kowalski, Len Bilous, and Don Popovic as well as a couple of the top referees; Dr. Joe Machnick, and Esse Baharmast.
In addition, Shep Messing, Dave D’Errico, Jim Polihan who scored the first goal, Zungul, Branko Segota, and Pete Rose the first owner are expected to make appearances.
Coming back to this century, literally, we also will have Drew Ruggles, MASL Defender of the Year.
Nick Perera, Juli Vee, Guy Newman and Kraig Chiles round up our line up of superstars. We are also trying to put together a Pittsburgh Spirit Reunion but fans will have to wait to tune in to find out more.
Want to know some indoor soccer trivia?
Diane Scavuzzo: Of course!
Keith Tozer: Indoor soccer was the first sport to bring music and lasers as well as fog into the professional sports game. After indoor entertained and thrilled fans — the other sports picked it up.
I firmly believe that indoor soccer should have a firm resting place in the National Soccer Hall of Fame in Dallas, TX because of the role it has played in our game. It has been so important in so many aspects.
The Legends of Indoor is proudly supported by World of Futsal, SoccerToday, and Califino. Proceeds will be equality split to benefit America Scores and Feeding America. America SCORES provides free soccer and poetry programs for low-income youth in the US and Canada.
America SCORES delivers free, accessible after-school development programs to low income and underserved youth. America SCORES is in eleven cities across the USA plus Vancouver, Canada. Their enrichment programs empower “poet-athletes” to lead healthy lifestyles with the confidence and character to meet new challenges.
