The Mid 90s

On October 19th, 1996, Green White held it's 40th anniversary banquet at Bristol Court in Mt. Prospect. Club president Horst Melcher had this to say on that momentous night: "The trophy cases in the clubhouse reflect the success of our teams over the years. Numerous league and state championships have been won by teams of all ages. However, the biggest success is the devotion of our many members who have volunteered countless hours over many years to work for the club, and build a strong soccer tradition."

Horst was working double duty in those days, as the president of both the senior and youth boards, assisted by VP Gus Bender on the youth side, and the many long time members who did all the work Horst referenced in his opening statements, names that have been part of Green White forever: Wittje, Schmidt, Metzinger, Kaempfer, Stadler, Zimmer, Kraemer, Harjung, Kilian, Gyurko, Mokran, Feichtl, Blaas, Kirschner and more.

Several were singled out for special recognition by the Master of Ceremonies (Rick Kaempfer from WJMK Radio) on that October night--Alex Gyurko for extraordinary services in coordination of referees at tournaments, Gus Bender for dedicated support of youth soccer at the club, community and state level, Anni Metzinger and Maria Zimmer for devoted service on the social committee, and Mr. Everett Weaver for the advance of soccer. Also, four long-time members were recognized for extraordinary dedication to the successs of the Green White Soccer Club: Hans Metzinger, Stefan Zimmer, Fritz Becker, and Horst Melcher.



On the field Melcher's son Kurt was now the goaltender of the first team. Among the other players on that team--holdovers like Stuart Davidson, Dan Vlaovic and Frank Speth, and the younger generation of players like Tom Czop, Bernie Czekajlo, Chris Salatino, Peter Kaempfer, and Jake Truty.




That team was a two-time defending champion of the national Donauschwaben tournament (1995 in Mansfield and 1996 in Chicago), but they were certainly not the only Green White team. As the club celebrated its 40th anniversary, Green White was the biggest team in the state. There were over 20 teams--teams for every age group of boys and girls--plus three men's teams and a ladies team. The boys team coached by Steve Pastorelli was the state champion. 19 players with the first team or reserves had come up through the youth organization. 40+ players from the youth organization had received scholarships to play soccer in college.

Green White even commissioned a song. "Green White is 40 Years Old Now" was written by Rick Kaempfer, and performed at the 40th anniversary banquet by the Johnny Wagner Band--and sung by two former Miss Green Whites. The full text of that song will be featured in the upcoming Green White history book.